Phillips Announces Highlights from the 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale in Hong Kong Led by Yoshitomo Nara’s Masterwork Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier
HONG KONG – 2 May 2017 – Phillips is pleased to announce highlights from the 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale, which is led by some of the biggest names in international modern and contemporary art, including Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Anselm Kiefer, Danh Vo and Peter Doig. These are presented alongside highly sought-after Asian artists of the contemporary age including Yoshitomo Nara, Zhang Enli, Christine Ay Tjoe, and Zeng Fanzhi. The selected group of important design works includes examples by Ron Arad, Finn Juhl and Shiro Kuramata. Comprising 60 lots, the sale is expected to realise in excess of 100 million HKD. Taking place on 28 May, the Evening Sale will be preceded by Warhol in China, a standalone auction of over 200 photographs, taken by Andy Warhol during his pivotal trip to Hong Kong and Beijing in 1982.
Jonathan Crockett, Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, and Deputy Chairman, Asia: “This season in Hong Kong, we are proud to present a curated offering of highly desirable international twentieth century and contemporary art and design. Each exceptional piece has been selectively sourced from across Asia, North America and Europe, and we are confident that it will resonate with the globalised taste of collectors in the region. Following on from the success of last fall, when Phillips achieved a world auction record for a single work on paper by Yoshitomo Nara, we are delighted to lead the Evening Sale with a masterwork by the artist. ‘Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier’ is a superlative example of Nara’s renowned portraits of children. Exceptional in its painterly execution as well as choice of colour palette, comparable works scarcely appear at auction.”
Yoshitomo Nara’s iconic depictions of devilish little children have become symbols of Japanese Neo-Pop. The ubiquity and popularity of these pieces have solidified the artist’s reputation as one of the most renowned contemporary painters of our time. Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier is a seminal painting from Nara’s renowned body of works portraying children, often depicted in solitary landscapes or against void-like monochrome backdrops (estimate: HKD 20,000,000 - 30,000,000, illustrated page one). The kawaii charm of this doll-like figure is undercut by her steely attitude, challenging the viewer with a fixed, determined stare that belies her age. Her indignant expression is adorable, yet playfully antagonistic, and shows a subversive sweetness that is so characteristic of Nara’s work, inviting the viewer to reconnect with their defiant spirit often associated with youthful rebellion.
Andy Warhol’s Mineola Motorcycle (positive) stands at almost two metres tall and is one of the largest hand-rendered canvases by the artist (estimate: HKD 6,200,000 - 9,200,000, illustrated above). Painted in stark black on white and reimagined on a billboard scale, the motorbike advertisement has been elevated through artistry and monumentality. When Mineola Motorcycle was created in 1985-86, Warhol had returned to the themes and techniques that he had employed to such success at the beginning of his career; articulating a highly stylised graphic sensibility that drove so much of his creative enterprise. As seen in many of Warhol’s iconic Pop paintings, the present work invokes wit, subcultures and aesthetics, as well as the notions of modern consumption that characterised his life work.
Masters of Contemporary Painting
A further highlight is a monumental canvas by Anselm Kiefer. From a distance, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit [Journey to the End of the Night] resembles a chart of constellations (estimate: HKD 5,500,000 - 7,500,000, illustrated left). Upon closer inspection, the sheer wealth of texture and detail becomes apparent. The heavily worked and impastoed surface features scattered paint drops on a background that resembles an arid landscape, bringing the terrestrial and the celestial into alignment and the mingling currents of science, myth and belief apparent into the painting. Voyage au Bout de la Nuit recurs both as a title for some of the artist’s most celebrated works, but also as an acclaimed exhibition, embodying a deep fascination with the grand morass of history and humanity.
Ed Ruscha’s text-based paintings have revolutionised the relationship between the visual and the semiotic. Ruscha fully embraced the visual culture of Los Angeles, making him a leading figure in the early emergence of the West Coast scene. Ruscha has pursued a lifelong artistic exploration into the formal elements of printed text and its fluid relationship with visual images. By culling words, images and phrases that have been imprinted in his memory and that are found across mass media, from print culture to advertising billboards, Ruscha’s work often serves as a visual encyclopedia of American culture.
Danh Vo’s Alphabet (Z) illustrates the artist’s principal ideas of coexistence or perhaps convergence – where discarded Vietnamese cardboard boxes are lined with opulent gold leaf, and ironically given the same treatment as sanctified objects in Southeast Asia. The letter Z dominating the foreground is extrapolated from the Bowditch alphabet as standardised in the maritime community in the early 19th century, furthering Vo’s lexicon of a concomitance of realities/ idealities.
Bird House hails from an extremely desirable period of Doig’s works, during which time he produced his most sought-after snowscapes. In the present work, the titular bird house is engulfed by a spectacular web of gnarling branches, a testament to Doig’s endless fascination with portraying scenes where civilisation and nature come head to head. The dreamlike Bird House’s muted hues of pinks, blues, and yellow are also immediately reminiscent of Monet’s snowscapes, an influence which the artist himself has noted as important.
The visceral surface of Abstraktes Bild 454-4, displays layers of dragged paint in varying hues of orange-red and tangerine emerging from the vibrant picture plane, which both insinuates and eradicates a sense of depth. The body of monochromatic works, from which the present lot is derived, forms perhaps the purest expression of Gerhard Richter’s unique and vastly influential investigation into the nature of painting - the marriage between Abstract Expressionistic spontaneity and a planned rhythmical structure.
Contemporary Voices from Asia
The Evening Sale presents exceptional works by leading artists from the region, including a further exemplary canvas by Yoshitomo Nara, Study for Miss Spring (estimate: HKD 2,500,000 - 3,500,000). Celebrated Chinese contemporary artists are brought to the fore, with two pivotal works from the early 2000s by Zhang Enli and Zeng Fanzhi. Eating #4 exemplifies Zhang Enli’s mastery of portraying psychological nuances (estimate: HKD 6,000,000 - 8,000,000). The present work is one of the finest examples of the renowned Portrait series to ever come to auction. Zeng Fanzhi’s A Man with a Straw Hat is representative of the radical and gestural luanbi method developed by the artist after achieving international recognition for his famous Mask Series (estimate: HKD 5,000,000 - 7,000,000). An adaptation of a photograph of Chairman Mao, the work continues Zeng’s exploration of the remnant imageries and collective experiences from the cultural revolution.
Contemporary art from South East Asia is also represented in the sale, including a poignant work by prominent Indonesian female artist Christine Ay Tjoe. Recognised for her energetic canvases filled with primal ruby and vermillion tones, her intensely personal works explore the strains of contemporary living on the psyche. Small Flies and Other Wings is composed of the wings of various insects in recognition of the ephemeral and fleeting beauty of the creatures (estimate: HKD 900,000 - 1,200,000). Ruminating on the transitory nature of living, Christine Ay Tjoe provides a commentary on frenetic urban societies where one’s mark is often untraceable.
Important Design
Among the highlights from design are museum quality pieces including a ‘Miss Blanche’ chair by Shiro Kuramata (estimate: HKD 2,200,000 – 3,200,000). One of Japan’s most revered 20th Century designers, Kuramata was an influential and creative tour de force. The chair is named after the central character Blanche DuBois in the famed play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, written by American playwright Tennessee Williams. The chair resonates with her tragic beauty which is contained within an oneiric and diaphanous delusion. Highly desirable, an edition of 56 ‘Miss Blanche’ chairs were produced and are part of institutional collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Dallas Museum of Art and M+ Museum in Hong Kong. Also featured in the sale is Ron Arad’s Southern Hemisphere (estimate: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,400,000), which walks the line between design and sculpture. A figurative example of Arad’s ability to transform hard materials into soft, malleable and even liquid forms, Southern Hemisphere is a representative display of beauty in organic form. Distancing himself from the rigidity of mass-production, Arad’s designs are renowned as unique or limited edition objects, making him a landmark designer in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s.
Included in the auction is a superlative set of eight ‘Egyptian’ dining chairs and a large extendable dining table designed by the famous Danish architect Finn Juhl in 1949 (estimate: HKD 570,000 – 700,000 and HKD 230,000 – 330,000). Handcrafted by Niels Vodder, these rare examples were executed in exquisite Brazilian Rosewood, which was selected and skilfully produced by the master cabinetmaker to create both the dining chairs and table. In 1960, the fine ‘Egyptian’ dining chair was selected and included in the dining room of the Danish Embassy, Washington DC.
Auctions:
Warhol in China, 28 May 2017, 6pm HKT
20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale, 28 May 2017, 7pm HKT
Jewels and Jadeite, 29 May 2017, 2:30pm HKT
The Hong Kong Watch Auction: Four, 30 May 2017, 1pm & 6pm HKT
Location: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
Asia Preview Tour:
Singapore:
Grand Hyatt, Residence 5 & 6, Level 2, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 10 Scotts Road, Singapore 228211
6 – 7 May 2017, 11am – 6pm SGT
Taipei:
Le Meridien, The Gallery, G/F, No. 38, Songren Road, Taipei, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
20 – 21 May 2017, 11am - 6pm CST
Hong Kong
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 1/F & 2/F, 5 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong
25 – 28 May, 10am - 6pm HKT
ABOUT PHILLIPS
Phillips is a leading global platform for buying and selling 20th and 21st century art and design. With dedicated expertise in the areas of Art, Design, Photographs, Editions, Watches, and Jewellery, Phillips offers professional services and advice on all aspects of collecting. Auctions and exhibitions are held at salerooms in New York, London, Geneva, and Hong Kong, while clients are further served through representative offices based throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. Phillips also offers an online auction platform accessible anywhere in the world. Visit www.phillips.com for further information.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
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