AO Auction Results: Phillip’s London Contemporary Art Auctions, June 30

July 2nd, 2008

Untitled, Willem de Kooning (1984) via Artinfo

Sold for about $5.6 million.
Estimate was $2.4 million – $4 million.

The Contemporary Art sale at Phillips de Pury and Company monday had some disappointing news to report when 34% of the lots went unsold. Even some of the top by Xang Xiagang and Paul McCarthy found themselves unable to sell. Damien Hirst, who sold 3 of his 4 works in the auction, managed to barely meet his estimate on the ones sold.

Contemporary Market Bruised but Resilient After London Sales [Artinfo]
Market news: London’s contemporary art sales [Telegraph]
McCarthy, Zhang Flop in Tepid London Contemporary-Art Auction [Bloomberg]
London Contemporary Week Lurches Into Action at Phillips [Artinfo]

The Importance of Elsewhere — The Kingdom of Heaven, Damien Hirst (2006) via Artinfo

With the current economic environment, people seem to be more and more scrutinizing about the prices they should be paying for an art piece. “Because of recent falls in the Chinese stock market, there’s a lot of uncertainty among collectors in China,” said London-based Chinese contemporary-art dealer Peifen Sung.

Sold for just over $2.5 million.

Chairman Mao II, Zeng Fanzhi (1993) via Artinfo

Sold for $3.5 million