Phillips New Now Auction Achieves $6.4 Million

Phillips New Now auction proved itself to be a staple of the auction calendar this week, mixing work by emerging and established artists in a successful sale. Highlights included works by Yayoi Kusama, George Condo, KAWS, and Cindy Sherman, among others. With over 250 lots offered, the auction expected to realize over $5 million, and made $6.4 million. Bidders from over forty countries drove prices up, leading to record-breaking sales.

The top sale was Yayoi Kusama’s Butterfly, which sold for $375,00, more than double its low estimate. Works by KAWS did extremely well. An untitled canvas piece sold for $200,000, double its low estimate of $100,000. His four-foot Companions series were extremely popular, selling for easily double or triple the lowest estimated. One Companion set a new record, selling for $150,000 against an estimate of $25,000.

Cuban artists had a strong showing, setting three of the nine record-breaking sales. Yoan Capote’s Palangre (muro de mar II), which previously sold for $42,500, sold for $43,750. Raúl MartÍnez’s El abanderado (The Standard-Bearer), 1970, estimated at $3,000-5,000, sold for $5,625, beating MartÍnez’s 2006 record sale of $3,956. Printmaker Belkis Ayón’s Untitled (Sikan with white Tips), 1993, estimated at $3,000-5,000, sold for $47,500, beating Ayón’s previous record sale of $22,500.

Other notable sales included Emily Mae Smith’s Hand to Mouth, which sold for $32,500, beat her earlier personal sale record of $11,250. Beauford Delaney’s Untitled, 1965, set a world record for an Abstract Work by the Artist and Second Highest Price Achieved at Auction for the Artist, selling for $150,000. Beverly Pepper’s Ligne Scolpite II, 1968, estimated at $25,000-35,000, sold for $93,750, beating Pepper’s 2005 record sale of $72,000.