Phillips de Pury To Sell Sad Clowns, More

Phillips de Pury & Company’s art auction in London is Feb 12-13 and just in time too, because I totally need me a Transvestite Brides of Christ vase, like now. In other good news: sad clowns are still popular. Some highlights: Basquiat. Also, framed canvas, found and fucked-up a la Banksy is estimated to sell at $94-125k. Each estimated at $234-312k are Andy’s knifey stencils, Banks Violette’s dilapidated chandelier made from crack-house leftovers, and Ugo Rondinone’s diptych of Target symbol variations. Read more »

Sotheby’s Gets the Gold for Selling Bronze

Alberto Giacometti’s “L’homme qui marche 1 (Walking Man 1)” sold at Sotheby’s for a record $104.3 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold at an auction, despite it being an edition of six. The buyer of the slim, bronze gentleman is a mystery, like most of Sotheby’s anonymous bidders from the gilded percentile that patron the art market, Economic Armageddon regardless.

Also, Gustav Klimt’s “Kirch in Cassone“ was sold for $43 million—most ever for a landscape—after being baby-sat by the Nazis for awhile, making it extra rare and valuable. Explaining the night’s total jackpot of $235 million, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Melanie Clore credited “the serious people” with resolve: “When they see these pieces of art they fall in love… just as they would fall in love with a person.” Yes, a person that you can buy, strap onto your wall and show off to all your swanky friends… Kinky. |CNN|

Photo of Half-Naked Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate Sells

A topless photo of Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate has sold for more than $11k at auction in New York. Shot by London fashion photographer David Bailey in 1969, months before the pregnant Tate was murdered by Charles Manson followers, the photograph, fully revealed below, was given a pre-sale estimate of $8k to $12k by Christie’s. Read more »

Overexposed Photos Sell for Half Milli

The first night of Phillips de Pury’s contemporary art auction saw modest sales and nothing like Sotheby’s $39 million haul for Andy Warhol’s cash print. With the pop master’s soap box selling for $842k and Dash Snow’s Polaroid prints going for $50k, most sales fell within pre-auction estimates. Read more »

Warhol’s Painting of $200 Sells for $43.7 Million

Sotheby’s post-war and contemporary art auction saw more then $130 million in sales last night. Helping nearly double the auction’s pre-sale estimate was Andy Warhol’s cash tribute. The pop master’s 1962 painting “200 One Dollar Bills,” sold for $43.7 million, triple its estimated price. That means every single dollar in the 7.5-foot screenprinted painting is worth more than $218k. |Artinfo|

Phillips de Pury Auctions Off Drug Platter

Tomorrow, Phillips de Pury continues their contemporary art sale, starting off with some more work by recently dead artists. Items up for bid include Dash Snow’s Whitney Biennial installation “Eat Shit and Die,” a mirrored record lined with “cocaine” and estimated at $15-20k; Marilyn Minter’s dirty foot photos; a “Swoosh” sculpture by Kenny Scharf and “The Golden Balls” of Terence Koh’s youth. Read more »

Dead Artists’ Soap Box and Polaroids Go to Auction

If you’ve ever wanted to stand on Andy Warhol’s soap box or paper your walls with someone else’s party photos, tomorrow’s your chance at Phillips de Pury’s contemporary art sale. In addition to one of Warhol’s wooden Brillo boxes, valued up to $900k, the smaller-than-normal auction features Dash Snow’s “Polaroid Wall,” estimated at the posthumous price of $40k to $60k. Also up for a bid is Jeff Koons’ $200k ice bucket, Banksy’s “Insane Clown” painting, Olafur Eliasson lightbox as wells as some pictures of nearly nothing by Felix Gonzalez Torres. Read more »