WORK IN PROGRESS
ESTIMATED DELIVERY DATE: 30 NOVEMBER 2023
Christie’s Hong-Kong
1. Post-Millenium Evening Sale
28 November 2023
Post-Millennium Evening Sale, a Collab with Jay Chou (christies.com)
1. Auction Statistics
28 Lots
Low Estimate: HKD 105,430,000
High Estimate: HKD 162,980,000
Total:
HKD 118,339,000 / USD 15,192,815
# Lots sold: 25
Sell-Through Rate: 89.3%
Top Lot:
HKD 42,725,000 / USD 5,485,199
2 Lots sold above HKD 10,000,000
Turnover: HKD 56,410,000
(47.7% of total)
Above Estimates: 14 Lots (50%)
Within Estimates: 8 Lots (29%)
Below Estimates: 3 Lots (11%)
Unsold: 3 Lots (11 %)
2. Top 3 Lots
#1. Adrian Ghenie
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 38,000,000 – 58,000,000
HKD 42,725,000 / USD 5,485,199
22849-ghenie-lidless-eye (christies.com)
ADRIAN GHENIE (B. 1977)
Lidless Eye, 2016-19
Oil on canvas
185×170 cm (72 7/8 x 66 7/8 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Ghenie 2016-2019′ (on the reverse)
A brilliant, tempestuous fusion of art history, visionary feeling and pure painterly splendor, Lidless Eye (2016-2019) is perhaps Adrian Ghenie’s greatest tribute to his hero, Vincent van Gogh. One of a series of monumental works based on different self-images by the great Post-Impressionist, it sees Ghenie reach new heights of technique and emotion. Here, he reimagines the most foundational painting in his artistic life: van Gogh’s famous late Self-Portrait (1889, Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
The close-cropped face, modelled in sweeping, marbled facets of crimson, pink, orange and umber, fills a canvas almost two meters in height. The background takes up the blue-green hues of van Gogh’s painting. One eye is glazed in turquoise, as if seen underwater: the other is a glinting black abyss, nestled among pleats of blood-flushed magenta and midnight blue. Ghenie’s mark-making ranges from soft, vaporous blooms to sculptural, palette-knifed sweeps of thick impasto. Dry-brushed skeins of upward motion recall van Gogh’s distinctive swirling arabesques; whiplash scribbles cut through sharp, red-rimmed planes of masked-off paint, which almost appear like collage. Delicate freckles and blushes meet more visceral tones of bleeding and bruising, as if laying bare the subject from inside and out. In this scape of blazing color and dynamic texture, Ghenie both celebrates van Gogh and stages something of a self-portrait. His own dark eye through history stares out from the heart of the picture.
Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1889. Musee d’Orsay, Paris. Photo: Josse / Scala, Florence
Vincent van Gogh has been an inspiration to Ghenie since his childhood. With little exposure to art at home in Baia Mare, Romania, he was captivated as a boy by the story of ‘The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh’ in a local art magazine, which included a black-and-white image of one of the artist’s self-portraits. He kept the magazine cover, depicting one of van Gogh’s Sunflowers, under his pillow like a talisman. It was much later, on a visit to Paris during his first trip to the West in 1998, that he saw in person the Musée d’Orsay self-portrait—one of the last van Gogh painted before his death. This face-to-face encounter had an intense impact on Ghenie’s body and soul.
“It was the only time in my life I was truly physically sick.”
Van Gogh’s countenance, wrought with internal tumult, went on to become a touchstone for the intertwined expression of art history, European conflict and personal biography that defines Ghenie’s practice. Between 2012 and 2014, he painted a number of small-scale versions of his own portrait as van Gogh. Later, larger works such as the present see him revisit the theme with greater ambition and painterly freedom than ever before, plunging the viewer into a visage as vast as a landscape. The eye remains at the painting’s core, a vortex compelling in its emptiness.
“That eye for me is one of the coldest places in art history. In most of my van Gogh heads, the eye is removed and it is a black hole.”
Ghenie’s discussion of his favorite paintings as ‘cold’ or ‘hot’ frames them in terms of somatic, sensual experience. While much of his practice is fuelled by pictures seen in reproduction—printed out, found in the pages of books, or viewed through a screen online—his meeting with van Gogh in the Musée d’Orsay reaffirmed for him this physical aspect of painting’s power. Lidless Eye restages the gut-punch of that moment: an instant of self-realization for Ghenie as he witnessed van Gogh’s own cold look in the mirror. The grand scale and energy of its execution, meanwhile, imbues Ghenie’s painting with a bodily life of its own. He is an admirer of Baroque painters like Tintoretto, whose vast works display a magisterial command of billowing movement, drama and figures in space. While working from a preparatory collage—and also welcoming the ‘Russian roulette’ of accident and impulse—Ghenie here performs a similar choreography.
“At one moment you get into a kind of trance, as if you’re dancing, like a dervish … I prefer getting into this whirling motion and then I don’t come out of it for about two months. I don’t paint with a brush, I paint with a whole load of tools.”
Francis Bacon, Self-Portrait with Injured Eye, 1972. © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS / Artimage 2023. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Ghenie’s homage to van Gogh also enfolds a tribute to his other great artistic hero: the post-war British master Francis Bacon. Both renowned for their vivid, gestural and contorted brushwork, Ghenie and Bacon are similarly inspired by figures who have shaped the light and darkness of history, from the Popes of old to notorious 20th century war criminals. They share a distinct interest in the photographic image, and in how pictures structure our lived experience. Both, too, are captivated by art history, from Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Velázquez to the Abstract Expressionists. In a 2016-2017 edition of collages related to the present work, Ghenie overlaid a cropped print of van Gogh’s image with cut-out swatches of monkey fur, fish-scales, surgical mesh and human hair and skin, like a head by Arcimboldo: his process bears close comparison with Bacon’s renowned use of photographic source imagery, which included medical textbooks, as well as volumes on primates and African wildlife.
#2. Avery Singer
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 11,000,000 – 18,000,000
HKD 13,685,000 / USD 1,756,933
AVERY SINGER (B. 1987) (christies.com)
AVERY SINGER (B. 1987)
Untitled, 2017
Acrylic on canvas
78×61 inches (198.1 x 154.9 cm)
Signed and dated ‘AVERY SINGER 2017’ (on the side)
#3. Jade Fadojutimi
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 7,000,000 – 9,000,000
HKD 8,568,000 / USD 1,099,993
JADÉ FADOJUTIMI (B. 1993) (christies.com)
JADÉ FADOJUTIMI (B. 1993)
Turmoil, 2019
Oil on canvas
190×200 cm (74 3/4 x 78 3/4 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Jadé Fadojutimi ‘Turmoil’ Jan ’19’ (on the reverse)
3. Other Highlights
Lucy Bull
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 2,800,000 – 3,800,000
HKD 7,308,000 / USD 938,229
LUCY BULL (B. 1990) (christies.com)
LUCY BULL (B. 1990)
Snail Effects, 2020
Oil on canvas
36×48 inches (91.5 x 122 cm)
Signed with artist’s signature, dated and titled ‘2020 “SNAIL EFFECTS”’ (on the reverse)
Stefanie Heinze
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 693,000 / USD 88,970
STEFANIE HEINZE (B. 1987) (christies.com)
STEFANIE HEINZE (B. 1987)
Small Tongues + Loose Change, 2020
Acrylic and oil on linen
100×80 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches)
Signed, titled, dated and inscribed (on the reverse)
2. 20th/21st Century Evening Sale
28 November 2023
20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale (christies.com)
1. Auction Statistics
57 Lots
Low Estimate: HKD 643,200,000
High Estimate: HKD 930,300,000
Total:
HKD 693,894,800 / USD 89,084,878
# Lots withdrawn: 4
# Lots sold: 46
Sell-Through Rate: 86.8%
Top Lot:
HKD 187,375,000 / USD 24,055,922
13 Lots sold above HKD 10,000,000
Turnover: HKD 543,932,000
(78.4% of total)
Above Estimates: 22 Lots (42%)
Within Estimates: 16 Lots (30%)
Below Estimates: 8 Lots (15%)
Unsold: 7 Lots (13%)
2. Top 5 Lots
#1. Sanyu
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 100,000,000 – 150,000,000
HKD 187,375,000 / USD 24,055,922
21391-sanyu-nude-on-tapestry (christies.com)
SANYU (CHANG YU, 1895-1966)
Femme nue sur un tapis (Nude on Tapestry), 1929
Oil on canvas
81×130 cm (31 7/8 x 50 1/8 inches)
Signed in Chinese and signed ‘SANYU’ (upper right)
A tour de force from Sanyu’s most accomplished period, Nude on Tapestry epitomises the artist’s superlative synthesis of East and West. 1929 is often regarded as a ‘lucky year’ for Sanyu: He was introduced to the art collector and dealer Pierre-Henri Roché, whose enormous support of his works propelled his career to new heights. It was also the year Sanyu met his lover and future wife Ms Hardrouyère. Painted in 1929, the present work was shown in a group exhibition Der schöne Mensch in der neuen Kunst (The Beautiful Person in New Art) at Darmstadt and reviewed in the magazine Deutsche Kunst Und Dekoration the same year. Depicting a Western subject in an Oriental tone, Nude on Tapestry not only attracted the attention of Western collectors, but also took the art world in Republican China by storm on account of an article published in Pictorial Shanghai by the notable journalist, Ge Gongzhen. Admiring Nude on Tapestry, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the emotionally charged image, its effective composition, and the artist’s bravura control of his paint brush and colour. Exemplifying his fresh interpretation of the ‘reclining nude’—a classic theme that has fascinated countless Western masters for centuries, this pioneering work was selected as the cover image of The Complete Works of Sanyu Oil Paintings (Volume I) edited by Rita Wong.
#2. Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 65,000,000 – 85,000,000
HKD 78,125,000 / USD 10,029,987
21391-yayoi-kusama-a-flower (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
A FLOWER, 2014.
Acrylic on canvas
162.2 x 162.2 cm. (63 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches.)
titled in Japanese; signed, titled and dated ‘YAYOI KUSAMA 2014 A FLOWER’ (on the reverse)
#3. Yoshitomo Nara
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 55,00,000 – 85,00,000
HKD 51,195,000 / USD 6,572,611
21391-nara-bad-barber (christies.com)
YOSHITOMO NARA (B.1959)
Bad Barber, 2000
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 90 cm. (39 3⁄8 x 35 3⁄8 in.)
signed with artist’s signature, titled and dated ‘Bad Barber 2000’ (on the reverse)
#4. Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 38,000,000 – 55,000,000
HKD 46,355,000 / USD 5,951,233
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
PUMPKIN [FBAN], 2013
Acrylic on canvas
130.3 x 161.5 cm (51 1/4 x 63 1/2 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘FBAN PUMPKIN YAYOI KUSAMA 2013’ (on the reverse)
#5. Lui Ye
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 26,00,000 – 36,00,000
HKD 31,835,000 / USD 4,087,099
21391-liu-ye-red-no-2 (christies.com)
LIU YE (B. 1964)
Red No. 2, 2003
Acrylic on canvas
195×195 cm (76 3/4 x 76 3/4 inches.)
Signed and dated ‘2003 Liu ye’, signed again in Chinese (lower left)
Red permeates the entirety of Liu Ye’s Red No. 2 and a teary-eyed, Lolita-like little girl stands at the edge of a cliff, looking sorrowfully into the horizon. The present work is the second in Liu’s iconic series of three red square paintings of the same size from 2003, recalling modern abstract masters Richter’s and Rothko’s exploration of the multifaceted character of the bold color. As noted by critic Zhu Zhu, 2003 marked the beginning of Liu’s golden era. More significantly, Red No. 2 is the only painting in the series that shows the little girl’s full profile, setting an intimate tone wherein she seems to communicate with the viewer directly. Reminiscent of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Liu’s little girl is a guise for stolen innocence. Further, the solid red background is of particular importance: it signifies passion, departing from the intimation of Cultural Revolution propaganda in Liu’s earlier Sailor series from the 1990s. Red No. 2 is therefore at once an attestation to the artist’s stylistic maturity and a window into his complex inner world that meanders between melancholy and passion.
Like many of his contemporaries, Liu was deeply affected by the growing pains that overshadowed the social and political atmosphere at the turn of the century. The artist thus found solace in his childhood memories of reading forbidden books hidden by his children’s playwright father and language teacher mother during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. The Lolita-like little girl became a refuge for his inner child and is a remarkable example of his stylistic shift in the early 2000s. Female figures began to take center stage in his paintings in succinct settings in 2003, shifting from the iterations of his star protagonist of the sailor boy in theatrical settings from the 1990s. Like the sailor boy who was an allegorical symbol of boyhood, the little girl in Liu’s composition embodies his childhood memories that transpired as adult desires. Liu’s female figures began as a cipher for a girlfriend, but like his other children’s subjects, they eventually became ambiguous embodiments of the intrinsic dilemmas of humanity. The artist once further expressed that every work is a self-portrait. Given this, the little girl in Red No. 2 is at once a reflection of the self and a projection of collective sensibilities.
Red carries particular importance within Liu’s oeuvre. As Zhu profoundly commented on Liu’s return, ‘[homecoming] not only signifies the geographical return to a familiar setting; it is also a psychological return to one’s own childhood’ (Z. Zhu, ‘Only One Gram’, in C. Noe (ed.), Liu Ye: Catalogue Raisonné: 1991-2015, Ostfildern 2015, p. 21.). In the present work, the mass of red caresses the little girl’s figure, harkening back to the chiaroscuro effect of Van Eyck paintings. The colour seemingly extends from the canvas to embrace the viewer. Yet, the cool undertone exudes a solemn ambience, corresponding with the little girl’s melancholic facial expression. Wispy, dark green cedar trees populate the meagre corners of the painting, reminiscent of the rendering of negative space in Song dynasty ink paintings. Despite the apparent stillness of the red background, the little girl’s streams of delicate tears are frozen in the frame, while her short bob and bright green dress are captured swaying in the air, as if blown by a soft breeze. Another example with similar compositional components is Gun (2001-2002, M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong). Red elicits instant allusions to the collective memory of the Cultural Revolution, However, as stated in one of Liu’s interviews, he has no interest in filling his works with political overtones. Rather, it is how the personal emotion can be amplified through his pictorial world that matters—red, is thus a vessel of one’s nostalgia, or maybe, a time capsule among us.
3. Other Highlights
Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 10,000,000 – 18,000,000
HKD 24,575,000 / USD 3,155,033
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
INFINITY-NETS [KLN], 2014
Acrylic on canvas
194×194 cm (76 3/8 x 76 3/8 inches)
Signed, titled, and dated ‘KLN INFINITY-NETS YAYOI KUSAMA 2014’ (on the reverse)
Richard Prince
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 22,000,000 – 28,000,000
HKD 20,945,000 / USD 2,688,999
21391-richard-prince-nurse (christies.com)
RICHARD PRINCE (B. 1949)
Camp Nurse, 2002-2003
Inkjet and acrylic on canvas
56×36 inches (142.2 x 91.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Richard Prince CAMP NURSE 2002-03’ (on the overlap)
Drenched in the misty stream of ruby and amethyst brushstrokes, Camp Nurse is a striking example of Richard Prince’s celebrated series of Nurse paintings inspired by covers of vintage nurse-romance novellas. As the early batch of the series, the present work debuted at the now-legendary exhibition at Barbara Gladstone Gallery in 2003. Prince’s Nurse paintings can be seen as an extension of the image appropriation strategies he developed in the 1980s as a member of Pictures Generation alongside artists like Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger.
Following his early serial works Cowboys and Girlfriends, the Nurses continues to challenge the notions of authorship and originality by blurring the boundary between highbrow and lowbrow art. Here in Camp Nurse, a caregiving, nursing figure is twisted and fetishized in Prince’s matchless gestural marks, breaking free from her original, sterilized setting, and transported into a dusky tropical paradise—an altered world that rings with the underbelly of America.
Andy Warhol
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 12,000,000 – 18,000,000
HKD 14,895,000 / USD 1,912,277
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987) (christies.com)
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Flowers, 1964
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
23 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches (59.7 x 60 cm)
George Condo
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 12,000,000 – 15,000,000
HKD 9,813,000 / USD 1,259,831
21391-condo-red-screaming-women (christies.com)
GEORGE CONDO
Red Screaming Woman, 2019
Oil and pigment stick on linen
193×188 cm (76 x 74 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Condo 2019’ (upper left)
Incarcerated in a psychologically charged torrent of scarlet paint, George Condo’s Red Screaming Woman is an enthralling example of Condo’s celebrated practices that subvert the integrity of the portraiture with a whimsical and ludicrous new context. Executed in 2019, the present work shifts away from the artist’s more carefully composed portrait from the 90s and accentuates its mismatched complexity through the use of both oil and pigment sticks. The conflicting emotional associations of rage and exhilaration cascaded through the artist’s virtuoso handling of these materials in the billowy and luxurious brushwork. The psychological drama of Red Screaming Woman is evident in the disproportioned eye, the rigid rows of teeth and the overly elongated neck where the voluminous hair fiddles with—this larger-than-life bust-length female portrait greets the viewer with its puzzling head that probed into the multitude of human subconscious. Through the viscosity of singular charcoal dark lines, Condo galvanises this grinning visage in a glimpse of the kaleidoscopic web of human emotion which he termed as ‘psychological cubism’.
Ushering an exceptional metamorphic approach of figuration, Red Screaming Woman displays Condo’s most principal touchstones ranging from Old Master portraits to Picasso’s cubism to Bacon’s corporeal figures or even cartoon references. Since the 1980s, Condo has been actively engaged in the launch of a new form of figurative painting that merged the figurative and the abstract in the New York art scene. Alongside key figures like Haring and Basquiat, Condo is notable for his hybridization of art historical influences, in which he fuses Old Master subject matter with the distorted geometric perspective of Cubism, ‘artificial realism’ and ‘psychological cubism’. ‘I believe that painting needs to transform in order for it to become interesting for each and every generation, but I think of it more in terms of being liberated by history. Liberated by what has come before’ (G. Condo, quoted in R. Rugoff, The Enigma of Jean Louis”, George Condo: Existential Portraits, Berlin 2006, p. 7). Condo’s method of hypothesizing and manipulating traditional figurative elements through an abstract lens has inevitably established him as one of the eminent figurative painters around the turn of the century, yet beneath his fluid gestural expression, the unshakable respect and affection for those artists who came before him remain.
Salvo
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,800,000
HKD 8,694,000 / USD 1,116,169
SALVO (1947 – 2015) (christies.com)
SALVO (1947 – 2015)
Il Mattino (The Morning), 1994
Oil on canvas
205×327 cm (80 3/4 x 128 3/4 inches)
Signed and titled ‘”Il Mattino” Salvo’ (on the reverse)
In his masterpiece Il Mattino (1994), which translates to ‘The Morning’, Italian artist Salvo delivers a masterly rendition of a lush marine landscape awakening in the warm splendor of a Mediterranean sunrise. With its ample dimensions, intoxicating colors, and cinematic perspective, this painting immerses the observer in a sublime panorama, a poignant ode to the birth of a new day, brimming with a sense of timelessness and nostalgic intimacy.
Il Mattino is characterized by Salvo’s signature energetic color palette and highly simplified forms, resulting in a dreamlike scene that feels both familiar and surreal. As the sun gracefully ascends on the left side of the panorama, it harmoniously envelops land, sea, and sky in a golden, dazzling radiance, while the right half of the scene retains the ethereal palette of dawn softly transitioning into daylight. An arboreal ensemble of trees stands as silent sentinels on an undulating terrain, overlooking the peaceful sea. The line of vision is punctuated by the rhythmical interplay between the cloud-like treetops of the maritime pines and the more sharp-edged palm fronds. The absence of any trace of human presence invites the viewer to connect with the idyllic beauty of this captivating scene.
For its monumental scale, chromatic energy and awe-inspiring beauty, Il Mattino stands as a powerful icon of Salvo’s lifelong devotion to the landscape genre, showcasing his mastery of light and colour. Crucially, it is also a prime example of the conceptual approach that guided every brushstroke of Salvo’s artistic journey. Indeed, while usually labelled a figurative artist, Salvo transcends the boundaries of reality in his landscapes, directing his gaze towards the very rules of representation itself: much like Morandi’s meticulous studies of bottles, each vista for Salvo becomes an investigation of the subtle nuances of color, light, composition, perspective, even iconographical tropes. In a manner reminiscent of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whom Salvo greatly admired, he affirmed that ‘we have conventional language and behavior, but also conventional images, representations, thoughts. Paintings such as Il Mattino, therefore, are more concerned with a set of internal rules than pure visual storytelling: certain colours align with specific seasons, a different light corresponds to different times of the day, and nothing is left to chance or treated superficially.
Gunther Forg
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,800,000 – 8,800,000
HKD 7,812,000 / USD 1,002,935
GÜNTHER FÖRG (1952-2013) (christies.com)
GÜNTHER FÖRG (1952-2013)
Untitled, 2008
Oil and acrylic on canvas
290×399 cm (114 1/8 x 157 1/8 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Forg 08’ (upper right)
Mr.
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
HKD 7,056,000 / USD 905,876
MR. (B. 1969)
STREET-CORNER OASIS, 2018
Acrylic on cotton mounted on wood panel (diptych)
Each: 235.3 x 142.6 cm. (92 5/8 x 56 1/8 inches) (2)
Overall: 235.3 x 285.2 cm (92 5/8 x 112 1/4 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Mr. 2018’ (on the overlap)
Damien Hirst
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 5,500,000 – 7,500,000
HKD 5,670,000 / USD 727,936
DAMIEN HIRST (B. 1965) (christies.com)
DAMIEN HIRST
Denatonium Benzoate, 2007
Household gloss on canvas
diameter: 213.4 cm. (84 in.)
signed, titled and dated ” (on the reverse); signed again ‘D Hirst’ (on the stretcher)
Scott Kahn
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 600,000 – 900,000
HKD 2,772,000 / USD 355,880
SCOTT KAHN (B. 1946) (christies.com)
SCOTT KAHN (B. 1946)
Full Moon, 1998
Oil on canvas
72.4 x 57.2 cm. (28 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘KAHN FULL MOON 1998’ (on the reverse)
3. 21st Century Day Sale
29 November 2023
21st Century Art Day Sale (christies.com)
1. Auction Statistics
82 Lots
Low Estimate: HKD 96,970,000
High Estimate: HKD 148,630,000
Total:
HKD 146,313,820 / USD 18,784,330
# Lots sold: 68
Sell-Through Rate: 82.9%
Top Lot:
HKD 18,525,000 / USD 2,378,311
4 Lots sold above HKD 10,000,000
Turnover: HKD 57,160,000
(39.1% of total)
Above Estimates: 37 Lots (45%)
Within Estimates: 27 Lots (33%)
Below Estimates: 4 Lots (5%)
Unsold: 14 Lots (17%)
2. Top 5 Lots
#1. Nicolas Party
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 11,000,000 – 18,000,000
HKD 18,525,000 / USD 2,378,311
21392-nicolas-party-winter-trees (christies.com)
NICOLAS PARTY (B. 1980)
Winter Trees, 2017
Soft pastel on linen
140×85 cm (55 x 33 3/8 inches)
#2. Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,800,000 – 5,500,000
HKD 16,105,000 / USD 2,067,622
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Pumpkin, 1981
Acrylic on canvas
53 x 45.5 cm (20 7/8 x 17 7/8 inches)
Titled in Japanese, signed, dated and inscribed ‘Yayoi Kusama 1981 F10’ (on the reverse)
Titled in Kanji, signed and dated again ‘Yayoi Kusama 1981’ (on the stretcher)
#3. George Condo
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 10,000,000 – 15,000,000
HKD 12,475,000 / USD 2,067,622
GEORGE CONDO (B. 1957) (christies.com)
GEORGE CONDO (B. 1957)
The Stockbroker, 2002
Oil on canvas
97×80 inches (243.8 x 203.2 cm)
Signed, titled, and dated ‘Condo 2002 The StockBroker’ (on the reverse)
“My painting is all about this interchangeability of languages in art, where one second you might feel the background has the shading and tonalities you would see in a Rembrandt portrait, but the subject is completely different and painted like some low-culture, transgressive mutation of a comic strip.”
#4. Liu Ye
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,000,000 – 9,000,000
HKD 10,055,000 / USD 1,290,899
LIU YE (B. 1964) (christies.com)
LIU YE (B. 1964)
Boogie Woogie, Little Girl, 2005
Acrylic on canvas
43 x 28.5 cm. (16 7/8 x 11 1/4 inches)
Signed in Chinese and dated ’05’ (lower right)
Stamped ‘LITTLE GRIL BOOGIE WOOGIE 2005 LIU YE’ (on the reverse)
“For me, I also see a lot of naivety and very emotional elements in Mondrian’s paintings. But at the same time, its rigor, just like in architecture, also influences me a lot. So I think that naivety and rigor are not two contradictory elements, they can be combined together.”
#5. Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 8,000,000 – 12,000,000
HKD 9,450,000 / USD 1,213,227
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Lemon Juice, 1983
Acrylic on canvas
53 x 45.5 cm (20 7/8 x 17 7/8 inches)
Titled in Japanese, signed and dated ‘Yayoi Kusama 1983’ (on the reverse)
3. Other Highlights
Yoshitomo Nara
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 5,040,000 / USD 647,055
YOSHITOMO NARA (B. 1959) (christies.com)
YOSHITOMO NARA (B. 1959)
Wheels Go Round, 1994
Acrylic on canvas
32 x 40.5 cm (12 5/8 x 16 inches)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘For Alistair Wheels go round ’94’ (on the reverse)
“I think the work is playing within the space between the selfishness and sensitivity of childhood and an adult’s awareness of being part of a difficult society. In that sense, the work is both an intimate picture of my past emotions and an open take on the contemporary world.”
Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 4,788,000 / USD 614,702
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Shoe, 1981
Acrylic on canvas
38×45 cm (15 x 17 3/4 inches)
Titled and inscribed in Japanese; signed and dated ‘Yayoi Kusama 1981’ (on the reverse)
Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 4,410,000 / USD 566,173
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Goro, 2005
Painted styrofoam and urethane resin sculpture
136 (H) x 95 x 175 cm (53 1/2 x 37 3/8 x 68 7/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Yayoi Kusama Goro 2005’ (on the underside of the torso)
Takashi Murakami
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 2,000,000 – 4,000,000
HKD 2,394,000 / USD 307,351
TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962) (christies.com)
TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)
Time Machine, 2019
Acrylic and platinum leaf and gold leaf on canvas mounted on wood panel
120 x 93.6 cm (47 1/4 x 36 7/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s signature and dated ‘2019’ (on the reverse)
“The highlight of this work is how my ‘flowers’, with its grammar of contemporary art, can be adjacent to the grammar of manga from Doraemon.”
Javier Calleja
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 2,800,000 – 3,800,000
HKD 2,268,000 / USD 291,175
JAVIER CALLEJA (B. 1971) (christies.com)
JAVIER CALLEJA (B. 1971)
THE F KING BEAR, 2018
Acrylic on canvas
162×130 cm (63 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Titled ‘tHE F KiNG BEAR’ (on the reverse); signed and dated ‘2018 Javier Calleja’ (on the overlap)
“I think there is something really important in their eyes, and it’s with only two drops, white color, and the shadows… So your brain is looking at something real but your eyes are looking at something not real, and I think there is some kind of magic in such a moment.”
Javier Calleja
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 2,142,000 / USD 274,998
JAVIER CALLEJA (B. 1971) (christies.com)
JAVIER CALLEJA (B. 1971)
I’d go hopping, 2018
Acrylic on canvas
116×100 cm (45 5/8 x 39 3/8 inches)
Titled ‘I’d GO HOPPiNG’ (on the overlap)
KAWS
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 1,890,000 / USD 242,645
KAWS (B. 1974) (christies.com)
KAWS (B. 1974)
METICULOUS, 2018
Acrylic on canvas
74×60 inches (188×153 cm)
Signed and dated ‘KAWS..18’ (on the reverse)
Salvo
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 1,512,000 / USD 194,116
SALVO (1947-2015) (christies.com)
SALVO (1947-2015)
I giorni della brina (The days of snow), 2010
Oil on canvas
40×50 cm (15 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches)
Signed, inscribed and titled ‘”I giorni della brina” Salvo’ (on the reverse)
“As a child I wondered how it was possible to draw a straight line or shade a sky. My first horizons were blue, I didn’t dare use other colors but then I learned, because sunsets, twilights and nights exist. Today we forget that thinking or feeling does not mean knowing how to express ourselves. It’s always about doing something.”
Edgar Plans
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 900,000
HKD 819,000 / USD 105,146
EDGAR PLANS (B. 1977) (christies.com)
EDGAR PLANS (B. 1977)
Are you a Jedi?, 2020
Mixed media on canvas
195×195 cm (76 3/4 x 76 3/4 inches)
Signed ‘Plans’ (centre)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘Are you a Jedi? 200 x 200 cm Plans 2020’ (on the reverse)
Avery Singer
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 250,000 – 350,000
HKD 693,000 / USD 88,970
AVERY SINGER (B. 1987) (christies.com)
AVERY SINGER (B. 1987)
Prada Mask, 2012
Acrylic on canvas stretched over wood panel
36 1/8 x 36 1/8 inches (91.7 x 91.6 cm)
Signed and dated ‘AVERY SINGER 2012’ (on the stretcher)
Lucy Bull
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 478,800 / USD 61,470
LUCY BULL (B. 1990) (christies.com)
LUCY BULL (B. 1990)
Untitled, 2020
Oil on linen
12×9 inches (30.5 x 22.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘LB 2020’ (on the reverse)
Yayoi Kusama
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 80,000 – 180,000
HKD 478,800 / USD 61,470
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
RED PUMPKIN, 1992
Screenprint
Edition: 75⁄120, alongside 12 AP and 4 PP
Signed, titled in Japanese, dated and numbered ‘Yayoi Kusama 1992 75⁄120’ (lower edge)
Rafa Macarron
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 403,200 / USD 51,764
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Atmosfera II, 2015
Mixed media on aluminum
229×147 cm (90 1/8 x 57 7/8 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and inscribed ‘Rm BACH’ (lower right)