Shortlist 11 - Phillips Day Sale (NYC)
(Chris Martin, Angel Otero, Nicole Eisenman, Katherine Bernhardt, Alex Da Corte, Anne Collier, Josh Smith, & Michael Williams)
Chris Martin (B. 1954)
The Popcorn
54 1/8 x 45 1/8 inches
Oil, spray paint, cardboard and vinyl collage on canvas
Executed in 2007
Signed, titled and dated on lower edge and reverse
Estimate: $10,000 to $15,000
My recommendation: Bid to $20,000
Result: $12,000 (hammer)
Interested in Chris Martin?
Artist Profile
Martin, 66, has an extremely diverse painting practice that can be primal, hermetic, vibrant and meditative, often simultaneously. His work is classified as Casualist and features bright colors and compositions that often originate from a simple doodle. Martin regularly includes non-traditional objects such as glitter, tinfoil and newspaper in his paintings, thus creating a homemade feel to his paintings. He has a degree in art therapy and practiced for 15 years in the 90s and 2000s which may be the reason why his paintings have a soothing and almost, totemic quality.
My Take
With representation at two excellent galleries (Anton Kern in NYC, David Kordansky in LA, and Timothy Taylor in London) who have track records for taking emerging artists to the next level, Martin is primed to have his prices catch up to his reputation as an influential painter. He’s not young, but his work remains fresh in the eyes of collectors and younger artists alike. At auction, his works have sold for as high as $37,000, and are selling for up to $75,000 at his galleries for the largest works. In the next decade, I expect to see Martin’s market consolidate and his prices steadily climb. This midsize work has both the electric spray paint and a record album collaged onto the canvas - both Martin signatures. Works of this size sell at retail in the $40,000 to $45,000 range, so a hammer bid up to $20,000 will get you a great Chris Martin painting for less than $30,000 (with fees).
Angel Otero (B. 1981)
Acis and Galatea
Oil and oil paint skin collage on canvas
84 x 60 inches
Executed in 2013
Signed, titled and dated on reverse
Estimate: $25,000 - $35,000
My Recommendation: Bid to $45,000
Result: $220,000 (hammer)
Interested in Angel Otero?
Artist Profile
Born in San Juan, painter and sculptor, Angel Otero makes bold paintings by applying thick layers of paint and dried out sheets of “oil paint skins” to his canvases. This involves applying paint to glass, scraping it off when it’s partially dry, and then re-applying the malleable “skins” to his canvases. This creates a layered and textured surface that has become his signature style, which the above painting is a striking example. He cites Poussin, de Kooning, and Picasso as his main influences, as well as Baroque Spanish painting.
My Take
Not yet 40 years old, Otero has a been a fast-rising star of the art scene, and is represented at 3 excellent US galleries: Lehmann Maupin (NY), Kavi Gupta (Chi), and Susanne Vielmetter (LA). In the past 4 months, he’s had some very strong auction results including two large horizontal paintings selling for over $100,000.00: March 3rd & March 9th, and 2 vertical works of the same size and similar composition to this lot that sold for $75,000.0 on March 4th and over $150,000 on June 7th. A winning hammer bid of $48,000 or less, will get you this great piece for $65,000.00 or less (plus applicable taxes and shipping costs). I’m a strong believer in his signature look and process, and being so young, his career and market have a long upward trend ahead. Get on board.
Nicole Eisenman (B. 1965)
Captured Pirates on the Island of Lesbos
22 x 30 inches
Watercolor and ink on paper
Executed in 1992
Signed and dated on the reverse
Estimate: $15,000 to $20,000
My recommendation: Bid to $22,000 (hammer)
Result: $32,000 (hammer)
Interested in Nicole Eisenman?
Artist Profile
Through drawing, painting, prints and sculpture, Nicole Eisenman explores the human condition. Drawing upon her own body, heart, and feelings, the artist has created works over 30 years that have garnered critical attention. Inspired by Expressionism, Impressionism, Baroque art, the Renaissance, and Pablo Picasso, and drawing upon herself, her friends and imagined characters, she has used her critical eye to comment on contemporary life. Even when they are in large groups, her figures seem lonely and contemplative. Often utilizing dark humor, she addresses issues of identity, sexuality, and politics while overlaying elements of popular and countercultures. Eisenman is currently the subject of a major mid-career retrospective at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, had a solo exhibition at the New Museum (NYC) in 2016, and been featured in the Whitney Biennial 3 times.
My Take
Eisenman is represented by three excellent galleries Anton Kern (NYC), Susanne Vielmetter (LA), and the global powerhouse that is Hauser & Wirth. Her auction record is just under 1.2 million, but not too many major paintings have come to market recently, as her collectors are holding onto their works. This multi-figure drawing demonstrates the artist’s skill and her interest in identity and sexuality. Upon closer inspection, this graphic watercolor and ink work has images of both castration and ecstasy. Everywhere you look, there is ecstasy, depravity, and violence. Works like these are priced at $50,000 to $60,000 at her galleries, and the secondary market for these drawings haven’t caught up to her paintings. To be able to get this nice-sized work for $30,000 including all fees is an excellent deal. Nicole Eisenman is a blue chip artist whose market will only continue to strengthen in the years ahead.
Katherine Bernhardt (B. 1975)
Untitled
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
60 x 72 inches
Executed in 2016
Estimate: $40,000 to $60,000
My Recommendation: Bid to $50,000 (hammer)
Result: $185,000 (hammer)
Interested in Katherine Bernhardt?
Artist Profile
For the past 15 years, Bernhardt has developed a style that I call Sloppy-Pop (patent pending), in which she has depicted models, Moroccan rugs, the Pink Panther, ET the Extra-Terrestrial, the Kool-Aid man, Garfield, and fetishized objects such as cigarettes, watermelons, palm trees, hamburgers, and many more. Bernhardt’s paintings are quickly executed and relay the joy of image and mark making that the viewer feels instantaneously. Many of her canvases have an all-over type composition with objects arranged in a seemingly playful, yet structured way giving the work an uncanny balance. Her art is playful and colorful, yet also an extremely relevant commentary on consumer culture, and the ever-reaching grip that it has on all of us.
My Take
Bernhardt creates works quickly, is prolific, and is represented by leading contemporary galleries: Canada in NYC, Xavier Hufkens (Belgium), and Nanzuka (Japan) and has had shows at other prestigious galleries including Venus Over Manhattan, Salon 94, and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise (which merged with Gladstone in 2020). Bernhardt’s auction record is $125,000 (Aug 2020) and works of this size sell for $90,000.00 at galleries. This painting combines two of Bernhardt’s best subjects, the pink panther and watermelons, with a beautiful blue background. It all comes down to personal taste and which signifiers you like (toilet paper, bananas, windex, cigarettes, parrots, plants, tacos). This example is great to my eye. A winning hammer bid of $50,000 will get this piece for you all for roughly $70,000.00 (plus applicable sales taxes and shipping costs).
Alex Da Corte (B. 1980)
Paradise Lost
Mixed media in artist’s frame
56 x 56 inches
Executed in 2013
Estimate: $18,000 to $22,000
My Recommendation: Bid up to $25,000
Result: BI (Failed to Sell)
Interested in Alex Da Corte?
Artist Profile
Camden (NJ) born, Venezuelan raised, and recipient of a Yale MFA in sculpture (2010), conceptual artist Alex Da Corte has been a fast-rising star in the art world for the last decade. His multi-colored, dreamlike works and installations make the familiar new again, in unfamiliar ways. He playfully and surrealistically fuses influences from pop and mass culture (often kitsch), design, and art history. Paradise Lost is an excellent, large collage that demonstrates Da Corte’s ability to seamlessly marry diverse, non-traditional materials into a unified piece. Found posters, a glow in the dark spider (see right cheek), a silver chain, some sunscreen are just some of the elements in this piece. This work is both nostalgic and sinister.
My Take
Da Corte’s auction record is $63,000 (Oct ’20), but his larger and more ambitious works are selling for more at his galleries. He is represented by blue chip galleries: Matthew Marks (NYC and LA), Luxembourg and Dayan (NYC and London), Sadie Coles (London) and David Risley in Copenhagen. It really doesn’t get much better than that for someone 40 years old. Creating beautiful, immersive installations, Da Corte has participated in many museum shows (both solo and group). Curators and collectors alike love his work - currently, he was commissioned to create an installation atop the Met Museum Roof (on view through Oct 31). I’m a big believer in the artist in general, and a disciplined buy will pay off with patience down the road. A winning bid of $25,000 (hammer) will get you this work for about $35,000, which is a great price for a large work with wall power. Da Corte is an artist who will be around for a long, long time, and whose market I feel will continue to mature and rise in the next decade.
Anne Collier (B. 1970)
Album (For Whom the Bell Tolls)
Chromogenic print
46 ¾ x 60 3/8 inches
Executed in 2016, this work is number 3/5, plus 2 artist’s proofs.
Estimate: $15,000 to $20,000
My recommendation: Bid to $18,000 (hammer)
Result: $16,000 (hammer)
Interested in Anne Collier?
Artist’s Profile
Anne Collier’s still life photographs of other photographs and found media shine a light on the relationship between commercial photography, consumerism, sexualized female bodies, and how we as a society take these images in. Minimalist photographs of record albums, cassette tapes, photo albums, photography books and magazines, and other photographs carefully arranged in her studio allow the viewer to both feel the nostalgia and the weight of these selected objects. Her work can also be seen as indirect self-portraits
My Take
Collier has had a steady rise in the art world over the last 20 years and has an excellent cast of dealers supporting her career: Anton Kern (NYC), Barbara Gladstone (NYC & Brussels), The Modern Institute (Glasgow), and Galerie Neu (Berlin, Germany). She has already had a mid-career retrospective in 2014-15 that toured MOCA Chicago, the Hessel, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Collier’s works depicting female heroines have done well at past auctions including a Marilyn Monroe in 2019 which sold for $27,500 (includes premium). Rossellini also carries a nice amount of cache. Collier’s auction record is $60,000 for this eye tray image in 2019. Current works of this size are selling for $28,000 at her galleries, so a bid up to $18,000 hammer will get you this excellent example for a touch under retail. Another edition of this print is in the permanent collection of the Moderna, Museet (Stockholm).
Phillip’s Lot Page
Additional Works
Josh Smith (B. 1976)
Untitled (2009)
Oil on canvas
60 x 48 inches
Signed and dated on the overlap
Estimate: $30,000 to $50,000
My Recommendation: Bid to $35,000 (hammer)
Result: $35,000 (hammer)
Interested in Josh Smith?
Artist Profile
Josh Smith is a painter who has been exploring the limits and potential of abstract painting since the early 2000s. He rose to prominence with abstracts that incorporated the letters of his name or his initials, creating a recognizable “signature” motif. It’s also a comment on the value of art and artist as brand. Since then, the artist has created works with varied imagery (Grim Reapers, Palm Trees, and Flowers) as well as free-flowing gestural abstractions. The above work approaches full abstraction, but the viewer feels the hint of a dissolved ‘J’ and ‘S’ - whether is there, is inconsequential. Smith has brilliantly merged the figurative and abstract by making his name the figure. He’s an artist who works feverishly in series, with the previous painting often leading directly into the next.
Artist Market
An artist who is owned in depth by prominent collectors such as the Brant Foundation and the Zabludowicz Collection, and has been the US representative in the Venice Biennale (2011), Smith’s market is bifurcated at the moment, with his palm tree and other figurative works in great demand and selling at auction for more than $80,000 (record price is $260,000 for a palm tree painting). His ‘signature’ paintings are selling for between $20,000 and $80,000 (at auction), and his gestural abstractions for $20,000 to $60,000. Smith has been represented by mega-dealer David Zwirner (NYC, London and HK) since 2017, and being that he is an extremely prolific artist, there is a lot of work out there. He is also represented by Eva Presenhuber (Zurich) and Xavier Hufkens (Brussels), and over time, his market should consolidate and the rest of his work will move up towards where his palm tree paintings are selling (and the palm trees will move higher from there). In terms of this lot, his more colorful abstracts have done better than his black and whites, and the opportunity to buy this with a hammer bid of $35,000 will get you a nice Josh Smith for approximately $50,000, all in.
Phillip’s Lot Page
More Images
Michael Williams (B. 1978)
Ikea Be Here Now
Inkjet and airbrush on canvas
101 x 78 inches
Executed in 2013
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
Estimate: $30,000 to $40,000
My recommendation: Bid to $50,000 (hammer)
Result: $45,000 (hammer)
Interested in Michael Williams?
Artist Profile
Williams extremely varied painting and drawing practice takes dead aim at the long history of the medium, and questions it’s components and limitations. Utilizing myriad of tools and techniques from oil and acrylic to airbrush and collage to inkjet and photoshop, Williams’ paintings are purposely disorienting. The above work, made with inkjet and airbrush, depicts a man (nude) possibly painting what is reflected in the oval in the upper right quadrant, while a shadow figure lurks behind, sitting on a stool, holding the same tablet (or possibly a calendar) as the painter. Multiple perspectives and windows emerge, and the viewer never really settles on a confident narrative with this large, vibrant work. This painting was included in the artist’s solo show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art (2015).
My Take
Represented by Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich), Barbara Gladstone (NYC and Brussels), Canada Gallery (NYC), and David Kordansky in LA. He is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and the Dallas Museum of Art, and has also had a solo museum show at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh in 2017. On the primary market, Williams works sell for more than $100,000 and recently his auction results have taken a small dip after a run-up in 2017 and 2018, but he didn’t stop being an incredibly inventive and talented painter. I’m a firm believer in his body of work thus far, and his creativeness going forward. Being able to get a large, powerful Williams painting for under $75,000 is a great deal.
Phillip’s Lot Page