Phillips’ Contemporary Art auction Nov. 12-13 includes Warhol’s ‘Brillo’
Andy Warhol’s ‘Brillo Box’ is silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood. It measures 17 inches by 17 inches by 14 inches. Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.
NEW YORK – Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box and Ed Ruscha’s Mean As Hell are two of the top works at Phillips de Pury & Co.’s Contemporary Art Sales to be conducted Nov. 12-13. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The auctions will coincide with the annual Contemporary Art week in New York. Both the Warhol and Ruscha masterpieces will be offered at the Thursday Evening Sale, which begins at 7 p.m. Eastern. The Friday sale will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern. The Evening Sale will also offer important works by Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Mark Handforth, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Olafur Eliasson, Larry Bell and Richard Artschwager.
Mean As Hell, done in 2002, is a unique piece from one of Ruscha’s most famous series in the 1980s, which paired views of city-light grids with short phrases, displaying the irony between the speed of the city and the rural Western America. This image illuminates the cityscape of Los Angeles with an aerial view of city lights. The acrylic on canvas painting has an estimate of $400,000-$600,000.
Brillo Box is an iconic piece from Warhol’s notorious set of series in the 1960s when he created some of the most recognizable works of art by blurring the lines between mass-produced consumer objects and the canon of art. Warhol exhibited his first series of Brillo Boxes at a solo show at New York’s Sable Gallery in 1964, alongside other boxes meant to replicate the packaging for Del Monte Peach Halves, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, and Heinz Ketchup. The use of Brillo boxes represented Warhol’s desire to expand society’s notion of what constitutes art by making art appear all the more commercial and even superficial. Warhol’s Brillo Box will be offered with an estimate of $700,000-$900,000.
Another highlight of the auction is Olafur Eliasson’s 1m3 light, which is composed of 24 halogen lamps, steel stands and a fog machine, creating a three dimensional cube from the intangible element of light. This 1999 work takes the Modernist concept of the cube to a new realm by requiring the viewer to engage with a form that is both present and fleeting. Following in the Minimalist footsteps of creating primary structures of basic forms, Eliasson utilizes light and fog to create an object that only exists in a moment. 1m3 light has an estimate of $300,000-$500,000.
Additional important works to be offered in the sale include Jeff Koons’ Ice Bucket, 1986, estimated at $200,000-$300,000; Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Nets (T.W.A), 2000, $300,000-$400,000; Mark Handforth’s American Tristar, 2004, $100,000-$150,000; and Richard Artschwager’s Untitled (frontal façade of a tall building), 1967, $300,000-$400,000.
The Contemporary Art Day Sale the following morning will include works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Agnes Martin, Franz West, Francesco Clemente, Tar R and David Salle.
Following the success of Basquiat’s Year of the Boar, 1983, at Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary Evening Sale in London on Oct. 17, which sold for £1.1 million ($1.8 million), the New York sale will offer a unique sculpture, Two works: Nod and Untitled, 1986, which is estimated at $120,000-$180,000.
Willem de Kooning’s Bewitched Woman, 1965, demonstrates a portrait from the artist’s famous figurative period displaying the highly stylized and fetishistic era of the 1960s encouraging erotic depictions of women. This unique and fresh work will be offered with an estimate of $200,000-$300,000.
Franz West’s lacquered aluminum sculptures have gained great recognition within the last decade from his numerous public commissions displayed globally. His Untitled, 2004, will be offered in the sale with an $80,000-$120,000 estimate.
The sale will be held at Phillips de Pury & Co.’s New York headquarters, 450 W. 15th St. in Manhattan.
For details phone 212-940-1200.
View a fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Click here to view Phillips de Pury & Company’s complete catalog.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Richard Prince’s ‘Untitled,’ 1980, depicts four women turning away from the camera in protest. The set of four Ektacolor photographs, 20 by 24 inches each, is from an edition of 10. The estimate is $400,000-$600,000. Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.
‘Bewitched Woman,’ 29 7/8 inches by 11 inches, is oil on paper laid on Masonite. Signed ‘de Kooning’ lower left, the 1965 painting has a $200,000-$300,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.
Ed Ruscha’s ‘Mean As Hell’ is acrylic on canvas, 36 inches by 40 inches. It is signed and dated ‘Ed Ruscha 2002’ on the reverse. Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.
Chuck Close’s ‘Self Portrait,’ demonstrates a recently developed technique of digital weaving, which is fabricated by an electronic jacquard loom. The photographic tapestry, 99 1/2 inches by 77 inches, has a $90,000-$120,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Co.
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