PRESS RELEASE
PHILLIPS TO OPEN FALL AUCTION SEASON IN NEW YORK WITH NEW NOW: MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART
Sale on 25 September Brings Together Modern Masters and Contemporary Voices, from Raymond Pettibon’s Iconic Surfers to Faith Ringgold’s Narrative Quilts, Alongside Charity Lots Benefitting the American Society of Black Neurosurgeons
Raymond Pettibon
No Title (Surfer in the...), 1993
Estimate: $350,000 – 450,000
NEW YORK – 10 SEPTEMBER 2025 – Phillips is pleased to kick off the fall auction season in New York by unveiling highlights from the upcoming New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art auction scheduled to take place at 10AM on 25 September. An exhibition preview will be open to the public from 16 - 25 September at 432 Park Avenue.
Two works by Raymond Pettibon will lead the sale as part of a single-owner section of the auction. An early and widely exhibited example, No Title (My purpose in…) is a touchstone of the artist’s emergent practice and a defining expression of his most enduring motif of surfers. The surfer here becomes a self-portrait of the artist, a seeker navigating chaos with grace, vulnerability and instinct. Also featured is No Title (Surfer in the...), rendered on a larger-than-life scale with frenetic brushstrokes that vividly convey the energy of the curling wave.
Also among the sale’s highlights, Faith Ringgold’s Dancing on the George Washington Bridge II evokes a joyful nighttime scene of 15 women dancing to unheard music above New York City. Framed by vibrant fabric with floral and tie-dye patterns, the work reflects Ringgold’s deep connection to quilting traditions, which she reclaims and elevates through innovative narrative compositions.
Christopher Wool’s Untitled belongs to the artist’s iconic series of stark, text-based paintings from the late 1980s. Rendered in his distinctive two-by-two letter grid, the composition partially abstracts the word, allowing it to function simultaneously as semantic concept and visual form. Stripped of context, it resists easy interpretation, inviting reflection on how language can both communicate and collapse under scrutiny.
Phillips is also honored to present a charity capsule within the New Now sale benefitting the American Society of Black Neurosurgeons, led by Firelei Báez’s Memory Like Fire, which combines self-portraiture with diasporic narratives to create a meditation on color and ornamentation.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUCTION
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Faith Ringgold Dancing on the George Washington Bridge II, 2021 Estimate: $100,000 – 150,000 |
Firelei Báez Memory Like Fire, 2015 Estimate: $15,000 – 20,000
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Jonas Wood Untitled (Pacific Standard Time), 2011 Estimate: $150,000 – 200,000 |
Raymond Pettibon Untitled (My purpose in...), 1987 Estimate: $280,000 – 350,000 |
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Friedel Dzubas Mira Monte, 1977 Estimate: $80,000 – 120,000 |
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Harold Ancart Untitled, 2019 Estimate: $200,000 – 300,000
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Georg Wilson Three for a Wedding, 2021 Estimate: $6,000 – 8,000
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Charline von Heyl Untitled, 1999 Estimate: $150,000 – 200,000
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Kylie Manning Weltschmerz, 2020 Estimate : $30,000 – 50,000 |
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Auction: 25 September 2025
Address: 432 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022Click here for more information: https://www.phillips.com/auction/NY011425