10 Standout Auction Lots on Artsy This Week: June 24, 2021
In this series, Artsy’s Curatorial and Editorial teams offer a look at the auction lots we’re currently watching on Artsy. This selection includes hidden gems, popular works with the most bids, and promising lots from the latest auctions. Browse all of the auctions on Artsy, including lots by artists you follow, here.
Shara Hughes, It’s More Than a Guilty Pleasure #15 (2019)
The hand-painted lucite frame that surrounds Shara Hughes’s painting It’s More Than a Guilty Pleasure #15 functions as a portal through which the viewer can experience the majesty of an endlessly vibrant field of flowers. Stylistically similar to Hughes’s other landscapes, yet unique in its brightness and gentle, impressionistic strokes, this work has a starting bid of $7,500 in the auction “David Benrimon Fine Art: Summer Contemporary.” Hughes had solo shows in the U.K. and France this spring, and will have her first major solo exhibition in the U.S. in September at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
Browse available works by Shara Hughes.
Loie Hollowell, Milk Fountain (2021)
Loie Hollowell’s paintings and prints are in high demand and continue to exceed their high auction estimates: Just last week, Hollowell’s record was broken when a 2018 painting sold for HK$16.5 million (US$2.1 million). Milk Fountain, a print from an edition of 30 plus five artist’s proofs, radiates light behind curved shapes, showcasing the symmetry and sensuality distinct to Hollowell’s practice. Available in the auction “David Benrimon Fine Art: Summer Contemporary,” this piece has a low estimate of $12,000.
Browse available works by Loie Hollowell.
Donald Sultan, Blue and White Poppies, Red and White Poppies, Silver and White Poppies, Yellow and White Poppies (Suite of 4) (2018)
In his prints, paintings, and sculptures, Donald Sultan uses industrial materials such as tar, enamel, plaster, and vinyl to add weight and depth to his abstract renderings of still lifes. This work presents his signature flower motif in a suite of four square prints with smooth, contrasting colors that immediately captivate the viewer. The work is featured in the sale “Artsy x Capsule Auctions: Editions and Works on Paper under $22,000” with a starting bid of $17,000.
Browse available works by Donald Sultan.
Dustin Yellin, Garden Glyph (2017)
Brooklyn-based sculptor Dustin Yellin is known for dynamic, three-dimensional works that feature collaged and painted scenes between sheets of glass. Describing these sculptures as “frozen cinema,” Yellin designs endlessly intriguing miniature worlds replete with urban infrastructure, nature, and people. Garden Glyph is an excellent example of Yellin’s unique approach to sculpture, and is available with a starting price of $40,000 in the sale “Art Keeps Nonprofits Going IV: Benefit Auction 2021.”
Browse available works by Dustin Yellin.
Roby Dwi Antono, Lonesome Hero #3 (2021)
Interest in work by Indonesian artist Roby Dwi Antono has surged among collectors over the past several months. This colored-pencil drawing on cardboard, available in the sale “Art Keeps Nonprofits Going IV: Benefit Auction 2021,” has already received 40 bids, raising its price to eight times its estimate; the piece is poised to break the artist’s current auction record, which is $13,687, set in 2020. Dwi Antono had a sold-out solo exhibition in February at the L.A.-based gallery Thinkspace, and is currently featured in a Woaw x Avant Arte group show in Hong Kong.
Browse available works by Roby Dwi Antono.
Sasha Gordon, Untitled (2021)
Demand for this untitled work by the young skillful artist Sasha Gordon has skyrocketed the piece to $20,000, more than six times its estimate. Gordon, whose solo show “Enters Thief” is currently up at Matthew Brown in Los Angeles, paints scenes that draw on childhood nostalgia and its associated anxieties. She uses her own image to depict characters grappling with their emotional and physical identities, imbuing the work with her personal experiences growing up as a biracial East Asian woman in conservative suburbia.
Browse available works by Sasha Gordon.
Sam Francis, Untitled (SF78-255) (1978)
This double-sided work consists of two distinct paintings: On one side, we see saturated green and pink amoeba-like forms in the general shape of a rectangle, and on the other, an all-over splatter in softer, muted hues. While the late American artist Sam Francis is strongly associated with Abstract Expressionism—evident in the energetic strokes and drips in Untitled (SF78-255)—his work was also heavily influenced by its European counterpart, Art Informel. Untitled (SF78-255) is available with a starting bid of £17,000 in the sale “Bonhams: Modern & Contemporary Art.”
Browse available works by Sam Francis.
Grayson Perry, House of Love (2017)
This stainless steel sculpture by British artist Grayson Perry is one of an edition of 50. It is a lustrous shrine containing two small figures, the style of which reflects Perry’s interest in folk art, and is available in the sale “Forum Auctions: Summer Editions” from £3,800. Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and his work belongs to major collections such as the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. A traveling exhibition of Perry’s earliest works and “lost pots” is now on view at York Art Gallery in England through September.
Browse available works by Grayson Perry.
Joana Vasconcelos, Filament II (2014)
Acclaimed for her sculptures that recall the work of Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois, Joana Vasconcelos maintains an expansive practice that explores the role of women in historical and contemporary life. The print Filament II is an abstract reflection of Vasconcelos’s critique on “women’s work;” the seemingly endless threads and loops hearken back to feminine associations with craft, and the work itself resembles the crocheted elements included in many of the artist’s three-dimensional pieces. Filament II is available in the auction “Weng Contemporary: From Zug, with Love,” with a starting bid of €1,500.
Browse available works by Joana Vasconcelos.
Wang Guangyi, Mao Zedong: Red Box (2008)
A pivotal figure in China’s Political Pop art movement, Wang Guangyi regularly examines the impact of globalization and capitalism in his work. His well-known “Great Criticism” series combines imagery from propaganda spread during the Cultural Revolution with symbols of Western consumer culture; much of his other work incorporates these same critiques. Mao Zedong: Red Box, a lithograph available from €5,000 in the sale “Weng Contemporary: From Zug, with Love,” demonstrates Guangyi’s method of political commentary through its sharp contrast of a red grid superimposed onto a monochrome portrait of Mao Zedong.
