LONDON—The contemporary season opened at Phillips on Monday evening with a mild bang, bringing in just £10,433,250 ($17,006, 198) for the thirty-two lots offered.
Of those, seven lots failed to sell, for a buy-in rate of 22 percent by lot and 14 percent by value. Three lots sold for over a million pounds and four made over one million dollars. More impressively, three artist records were set. The final tally hurdled the low end of pre-sale expectations, which ranged from £9.3-12.9 million.
As usual for Philips, the mix featured some younger artists just hitting the international market. Norwegian painter Fredrik Vaerslev’s hybrid abstraction “Untitled (Frieze Garden Painting #02)” from 2011, comprised of house paint, enamel paint, spray paint and nails on pressure-impregnated spruce, made a record £48,750 ($79,463; est. £20-30,000/$32,800-49,300), and Brooklyn-based phenom Lucien Smith’s splashy abstraction “Feet in the Water” from 2012, executed with a paint-loaded fire extinguisher in acrylic on unprimed canvas, brought an estimate-shattering £194,500 ($319,310; est. £40-60,000/$65,700-98,500).
In that somewhat older talent parade, Adam McEwen’s large and impressive abstraction “Rite Aid” from 2011, comprised of graphite on aluminum panel, brought £170,500 ($277,915; est. £150-250,000/$246-410,000), and Nate Lowman’s ghostly ode to Hollywood and Warhol, “Untitled (Marilyn)” from 2011 sold to a telephone bidder for a record £530,500 ($864,715; £400-600,000/$657,000-985,000). The Lowman carried a Phillips’ financial guarantee, meaning the work would sell no matter what kind of reception it got in the firm’s snazzy Howick Place salesroom. But tonight it didn’t seem to need any help.
Mark Flood’s rather gorgeous “Pink Summer Day” from 2009 hit a record £80,500 ($131,215; est. £20-30,000/$33,200-49,500).
Other recently produced creations included Urs Fischer’s aptly titled “Nail Duo” from 2012, executed in galvanized and cast bronze and from an edition of three plus one artist’s proof. It went for £230,500 ($375,715) to London dealer Harmony Hambly-Smith on behalf of Simon de Pury, the former chairman of Phillips (est. £200-300,000/$328,000-493,0000).
Fellow Gagosian artist Dan Colen had one of his bubblegum on canvas works, “It’s only Natural (The Replacement)” from 2010, but it failed to sell at a final bid of £140,000 ($230,000), short of its secret reserve price (it was estimated at £200-300,000/$328,000-493,000).
Not all the freshly minted stars corralled by Phillips blasted past expectations. A large-scale Oscar Murillo, “Untitled” from 2011 in oil, dirt, oil stick and acrylic on canvas, drew three bidders and sold for a relatively tame £98,500 ($160,555).
Moving up the market food chain, “SP56” from 2008, a 96-by-84 inch spray paint on canvas composition by Sterling Ruby in smoky hues of black and gray, sold in the salesroom to an elegantly attired Asian woman sporting high-wattage diamond earrings for £494,500 ($806,035; est. £500-700,000/$821,000-1.15 million).
Christopher Wool, still looking like a winner after his recent retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was represented by the richly marked and rubbed “Untitled (P492)” from 2005, in spray gunned silkscreen ink on linen, which brought £1,314,500 ($2,142,635; est. £800,000-1.2/$1.31-1.97 million).
There was a fair amount of work by German artists, including Andreas Gursky’s mural-scaled overhead view “Ocean IV” from 2010, from an edition of six, which sold for £338,500 ($551,755; est. £300-500,000.$493,000-821,0000). Rosemarie Trockel’s more intimately scaled “Untitled” composition from 1987, made from knitted wool yet appearing cooly minimal and macho, sold for £116,500 ($189,895; est. £60-80,000/$98,500-131,000). Milan dealer Nicolo Cardi of Galleria Cardi was the underbidder.
“She has some history,” said Cardi, “unlike the new artists, where it’s a very dangerous game to bid on.”
The Trockel last sold at Sotheby’s London, for £85,200 ($136,707), in October 2012—probably just time to realize a decent appreciation for the seller.
Another feminist pioneer, Yayoi Kusama, weighed in with “Infinity Nets OPQR,” a densely packed abstraction from 2007 that made £458,500 ($747,355; est. £400-600,000/$657,000985,000).
Another work from the thin roster of super-stars represented, Gerhard Richter’s powerful but rather petite “Abstraktes Bild 776-1” from 1992—painted in a diffused and blended palette of blues, grays and pale yellow—took top lot honors, selling for £1,930,500 ($3,146,715; est. £1.8-2.2/$2.96-3.61).
It was underbid in the salesroom by the aforementioned elegantly dressed woman.
Andy Warhol’s iconic “One Multicolored Marilyn (Reversal Series)” from 1976/86, which makes the screen goddess look like a ghostly negative, fetched £1,082,500 ($1,764,475), selling to London dealer Marco Voena of Robilant + Voena (est. £600-800,000/$985,000-1.31 million).
“It’s a fantastic painting,” said Voena moments after the bidding, “it’s never been out of its crate, so in a way, it was a bargain.”
Young British Artists had a mixed outing tonight, as Chris Ofili’s elephant dung-anchored painting, “The Saga Continues…The Journey from Hell,” from 1997, bought in £450,000 ($739,000) against a much higher esimate (£600,000-800,000/$985,000-1.3 million).
Fellow YBA Damien Hirst fared better, with the diptych “Night Follows Day” from 2007 selling to a telephone bidder for £578,500 ($942,955; est. £500,000-700,000/$820,000-1.15 million)
Storied street artist Banksy proved his mettle with two works that went over estimate, including the humorously goofy “Rembrandt” from 2009, in applied googly eyes and acrylic on canvas, which hit £398,500 ($649,555; est. £150,000-250,000/$246,000-410,000).
A prime example from the resurgent Arte Povera movement, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s “Uomo con gli stivali al telefono” from 1970, made in the artist’s signature painted tissue on a stainless steel support, sold for £614,500 ($1,001,635; est. £350-450,000/$575,000-739,000). Pistoletto’s subject, casually dressed in a sweater, corduroys and high leather boots, leans against one edge of the frame, holding the old-fashioned instrument in a way that conveys its barbell like weight.
Voena was the underbidder to the telephone buyer. The work last sold at Christie’s London in February 2007 for £240,000 ($471,600).
“I thought it had its high points,” said Michael McGinnis, Phillips’s CEO, speaking of the sale’s results, “and it made some good prices.”
But McGinnis was at a loss to explain the buy-in of the Ofili. “It’s a masterpiece.”
The evening action resumes Tuesday at Christie’s with “Eyes Wide Open,” a 109-lot single owner sale of primarily Arte Povera material sourced from a private Italian collection.
