George Michael’s YBAs Make £9.26m

Heritage Auctions now does nearly 60% of its transactions over the internet; Asset-backed art loans falter; Armory Show Sales Report

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George Michael’s Evening Sale of YBA Art = £9.26m

Most of the Damien Hirst lots in George Michael’s collection struggled a bit against their estimates but still sold well. Bridget Riley’s Songbird made £791,250 against a £600k high estimate; Cecily Brown’s Yet to be titled made the same premium price against a £550k high estimate; Antony Gormley’s Another Time III made £431,250 against a £250k high estimate; Tracey Emin’s Hurricane made the same against a £180k high estimate; Emin’s George Loves Kenny, a neon work with a £60k high estimate made £347,250. Oh, let’s not forget the Harland Miller work, above, that came to market with a £30-50k estimate range and sold for £237,500.

Heritage Does $826m in 2018, 60% on Internet

Overall sales volume has been higher at Dallas’s Heritage Auctions but the volume of business the company does on the internet has never been greater. Last year, Heritage posted $826m in sales which was up slightly from the $815m they posted in 2017 but down from their peak of $860m in 2016 and $850m in 2017.

Of that $826m, more than half ot $487m transacted across the internet. That’s nearly 60% of Heritage’s business and that portion has been on a healthy growth trajectory of 26% from 2016 to 2017 and another 11% from 2017 to 2018.

“Our strategic plan embraces technology, expertise and unrelenting focus on building win-win relationships with bidders and consignors,” said James Halperin, Co-founder of Heritage Auctions. “The results have been consistent world records and customer satisfaction across fine art, rare coins and paper money, comic books and comic art, and sports. Heritage remains the industry leader by wide margins in most of those categories, as well as in total online sales.”

The Asset-Backed Art Loan Business Takes a Hit

The asset-backed art loan business seemed a slam dunk a few years ago when Borro seemed to be doing land-office business and looking to expand to higher value loans. Two deep-pocketed institutions, private equity firm Carlyle and private Swiss private bank Pictet, saw an opportunity and created Athena Art Finance.

Low interest rates may have made it hard for Athena to gain a market foothold but the company claims to have finally educated the market—dealers especially—to the value of unlocking liquidity from their stock and begun to get real traction. Nonetheless, the company had been for sale since its original sponsor at Carlyle had left the firm to start his own fund.

Earlier this month, Borro stopped making new loans against art and Athena changed its leadership in the midst of deal talks. Cynthia Sachs is now the CEO at Athena but a transaction has not yet been announced.

Armory Show Sales Report

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Antony Gormley, Small Wait III, 2016 Cast iron, 94.8 Kg 40,5 x 22 x 34,3 cm Sold for 200,000 GBP
Imi Knoebel, Figura P, 2018 Acryl / Aluminium 206,5 x 230 x 4,5 cm Sold for 200,000 EUR
Imi Knoebel, BIG GIRL E.1 (2018) for $45,000
Robert Longo, iStudy of Fireworks, 2017 Ink and charcoal on vellum Image 53,4 x 79,7 cm Sold for 90,000 USD
Robert Longo, Study of Flag with Black Square(2017) for $85,000
Robert Longo, Study of Fog + Forest (2017) for $65,000

Helwaser Gallery

Joan Mitchell, Tree (ca. 1967) sold for between $150,000 and $200,000

303 Gallery

Rodney Graham, Vacuuming the Gallery, 1949 (2018) for $750,000
Sue Williams, Empty Strip Mall (2019) for $100,000
A painting by Mary Heilmann for $95,000
A painting by Rodney Graham $90,000
Sam Falls, Untitled painting for $65,000
Jeppe Hein, a neon artwork for $45,000
An Alicja Kwade sculpture for $43,000
A sculpture by Matt Johnson from 2018 for $35,000

Kayne Griffin Corcoran

Mary Corse, Untitled (DNA Series) (2017)sold for $375,000
Llyn Foulkes, The Mask (2019) for $60,000
Mika Tajima’s Art d’Ameublement (Islote Vinilla) and Art d’Ameublement (Ostrova Oktyabryata)(both 2018) for $40,000 each
Mary Obering’s geometric abstraction, Cottages in a Misty Time in Autumn for $18,000
Liza Ryan, Lit for $7,000
Liza Ryan, White Line (2017) for $12,500
Hank Willis Thomas’s Bifocal for $50,000

Zeno X Gallery

Paulo Monteiro, Untitled (2019) for $10,000
Two works by Michaël Borremans: Mud Boy II (2019) for $400,000 and The Mother (2007) for $270,000
Mark Manders, Female Head (2017/19) for $140,000
N. Dash, Untitled (2019) for $38,000

David Nolan Gallery

Jorinde Voigt, Immersive Integral Midnight (2018) sold for $110,000
Jorinde Voigt, Ludwig van Beethoven/ Sonate Nr. 28 (Opus 101) (2012) for $10,000
Jorinde Voigt, Ludwig van Beethoven/ Sonate Nr. 14 (Opus 27 Nr. 2) (2012) for $10,000
Jorinde Voigt, Ludwig van Beethoven/ Sonate Nr. 14 (Opus 27 Nr. 2) (2012) for $10,000

Hollis Taggart Gallery

Lee Krasner, Peacock (1973) for $1m

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

Frank Bowling, Untitled (1968) for $500,000

Sean Kelly Gallery

A portrait by Kehinde Wiley for $250,000

Marianne Boesky Gallery

Jennifer Bartlett, Path sold for $225,000
Jay Heike cloudscape Mother Sky (2018) for $35,000
The Haas Brothers, Big Trouble in Little Foot for $125,000

Marc Selwyn Fine Art

Frank Bowling, Remembrance Saturday with Marcia Scott for $210,000

Roberts Projects, Los Angeles

Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman II for $150,000

James Cohan Gallery

Mernet Larsen Situation Room with Angst for $85,000
Yinka Shonibare, Statue of Wounded Amazon (after Phidias) for $135,000
Xu Zhen, Only for You My Love for at $125,000
Allison Elizabeth Taylor, GSENM: The Toadstools #1 for $65,000

Galerie EIGEN + ART

A work by Nicola Samori for $57,000

Josh Lilley

Derek Fordjour, Three Straight Locked (2019) for $40,000
Nick Goss, The Loverman (2018) for $40,000
Gareth Cadwallader, Landscape (2017) for $24,000
Holly Hendry, If Organs Can Live Without a Body it Is Because They No Longer Need a Soul (2019) for $20,000

Wentrup Gallery

David Renggli, painting from the “I Love You” series for $33,000
Two works from Nevin Aladağ, “Social Fabric” series for $38,000 each

Galerie von Bartha

A painting by Landon Metz for $32,000
A drawing by Antonio Calderara for $15,000

David Castillo Gallery

Vaughn Spann, X. No.7 burning man/hands up (2019) $28,000

Meliksetian | Briggs Gallery

Meg Cranston, California (2006/19) for $22,000
Todd Gray, Shimmer (2019) for $22,000

Galerie Ludorff

A small painting by Winfred Gaul for $15,500

Roberts Projects, LA

Ardeshir Tabrizi, A Man from Isfahan for $12,000
Jeffrey Gibson, THE POWER WITHIN for $225,000

Mariane Ibrahim

Paintings by Florine Demosthene for $7,000 each

Shulamit Nazarian Gallery

Paintings by Naudline Pierre for $2,800–30,000 each

Lisson Gallery

Tony Cragg, Untitled (2018) stainless steel work for $250,000
Ryan Gander, Het Spel (My neotonic contribution to Modernism) for $105,000
Tony Cragg, Untitled pencil drawing (2003) for $11,300

David Benrimon Fine Art

Tom Wesselmann, Birthday Bouquet (Hat Vase)(1988–91) for $160,000
Sol LeWitt, Untitled (1994) for at $36,000

Pace Gallery

The entire booth (12 works) from Leo Villareal’s new series, Instance (2018) $48,000 each

Repetto Gallery

Fausto Melotti ceramic piece, Bambini (ca. 1950), for $30,000
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cucitrice (1981) for $70,000
Zak Ové, DP42 (2018) for $25,000
Zak Ové, DP43 (2018) for $16,000
Zak Ové, Resistor Transistors 6 (2017) for $10,000

Mizuma Art Gallery

Kariya Hiroshi, OSDLM2018SR50% (Part of project: It’s all about the one piece and millions of others Series: Legend of seeds) (1984–2019) for $15,000

David Castillo Gallery

Maria de los Angeles RJ, Medula (2018) for $10,000
Sanford Biggers quilt Nomad (2019) for $50,000
Xaveria Simmons Sundown (Number Nineteen)(2019) for $40,000

Andrew Kreps Gallery

Andrea Bowers, Migration is a Human Right and No Human Being is Illegal; Women’s March Unity Principles (2017) for $50,000
A five-edition work by Roe Ethridge, Cat With Yarn Ball (2017), $28,000 each

Philip Martin Gallery

Katy Cowan, (stray variation) Variation (2019); (as listening) Position (2019); (content/content sedimentation) Position (2018), all for $8,500 each
Katy Cowan, (under; sediment) apotential (2019) for $6,500

Van Doren Waxter

12 ceramic pieces by Brian Rochefort for $3,500–4,500 each

David Nolan Gallery

Jorinde Voigt, Immersion VIII (2018) for $24,000 each
Jorinde Voigt, Immersive Integral Midnight (2018) $110,000

OSL Contemporary

Per Barclay, Vannhus Centre d’Art Contemporain de Vassiviere (1995–2001) for $36,000

TAFETA

Ben Enwonwu, Anani (1957) for $27,000

DOCUMENT Gallery

Two pieces by Paul Mpagi Sepuya acquired by trustees of the Whitney Museum for $14,000
Another pair of works by Paul Mpagi Sepuya acquired by trustees of the Guggenheim Museum for $14,000

Dittrich & Schlectrium

A work by Asger Carlsen for $11,300
A work by Fatma Shanan for $11,300
A work by Robert Lazzarini for $15,000
A work by Julian Charrière for $25,000
A work by Alfredo Aceto for $6,700

Two Palms

Two small-scale watercolor monotypes for $4,000 each
A large scale Mel Bochner monoprint sold for $55,000, alongside one of his comical mirrors at $35,000, and two other smaller prints for $10,000 each.
At $4,000, two of Stanley Whitney’s large scale watercolor monotypes have sold
an Elizabeth Peyton etching for $12,000

Yancey Richardson Gallery

Zanele Muholi, S’manga, Amsterdam for $10,000
Zanele Muholi, Zank’zizwe, Green Market Square for $10,000
Zanele Muholi, Misiwe III, Biljimer, Amsterdam for $10,000
Rachel Perry, Lost in My Life (Fruit Stickers Reclining) (2018) for $9,500
Zanele Muholi, Sindile II, Room 206 Fjord Hotel, Berlin for $14,000
Ori Gersht, New Orders, Evertime 01 for $12,500
Zanele Muholi, Khala, Womens Jail, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg for $14,000
Mickalene Thomas, A Moment’s Pleasure in Black and White for $35,000
Ori Gersht, New Orders, Evertime 11 for $30,000
Mickalene Thomas, Hot! Wild! Unrestricted! For $28,000
Mickalene Thomas, Raquel with Les Trois Femmes $40,000