Lindsay Griffith, International Head of Contemporary Editions at Christie’s, went over the results of her recent $1.74m Contemporary editions sale held in advance of the Armory Show in New York with us to give a little more color on the results.
Julie Mehretu’s Entropia signficantly out performed its $15-25k estimate. What’s the source of the demand for this work?
This work by Julie Mehretu was one of the the big narratives of the sale, we estimated Entropia (review) conservatively despite the fact that the work hadn’t been up to auction since 2010 (it sold for $28,125). Mehretu’s editions are sought-after both by important collectors as well as institutions. Additionally, Mehretu has not produced many prints in color making Entropia (review) particularly covetable. We know that in 2004 when this work was published, there were a lot of people who were clamoring to acquire it and couldn’t because of the relatively small edition size. As a result, on the day of the auction there many people bidding on this work which resulted in the impressive final price of $87,500.
James Rosenquist’s Shriek seems to be prefiguring interest in Rosenquist in the broader market or is this simply a reflection on this work?
I believe that James Rosenquist’s market is undervalued when compared to the other members of the Pop generation. Shriek, is a very commercial print and a great, colorful composition. It will be interesting to see where his market will go – we have an example of F-111, one of his most important monumental works in our April Print sale in New York and it will be interesting to see how it performs.
Damien Hirst’s Garden of Dreams, a recent print, and Love of God, from a decade ago both performed better than expectations. Is there are story line that connects these two works?
Damien Hirst continues to have a very broad collecting base. The success of Garden of Dreams reflects the continued popularity of his show The Veil Paintings at Gagosian in 2018. With Love of God, we continue to see well known images by Hirst resonate with collectors.
Jeff Koons had two balloon dog plates that sold at very different levels. Is that because the yellow plate is still being sold by Bernardaud? Nonetheless, the set of balloon animals performed far better. Can you provide some color on this part of the Koons market?
The Koons balloon animals are simply a well-known and well-loved multiple. We find that set of animals typically perform better than the plates because of their scale and smaller edition size
Keith Haring’s Chocolate Buddha 1-5 set performed very well. Again what color can you provide.
This Chocolat Buddah 1-5 set by Haring was in exceptional condition. The previous owner never framed it which kept the colors very vibrant. Keith Haring’s market is strong generally and for editions if the condition is excellent it typically will lead to a high price.
