On 21 and 22 June, Phillips is presenting the Hong Kong Sales of 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design. Comprised of finest works by masters of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Evening Sale is led by some of the most celebrated artists of our time, including George Condo, David Hockney, Matthew Wong, Lee Ufan, Zhang Xiaogang, and Yoshitomo Nara. Other highlights include paintings by in-demand contemporary stars such as Nicolas Party, Ernie Barnes, Ouattara Watts, alongside rising young female artists Lucy Bell, Anna Park, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Issy Wood, Shara Hughes, Allison Zuckerman, and Anna Weyant.
LARRY’S LIST has selected the following 6 highlights of abstract paintings from the upcoming sales.
8:50, 2020
oil on canvas
93 x 296.5 cm. (36 5/8 x 116 3/4 in.)
Estimate
HK$1,000,000 – 1,500,000
€119,000-178,000
$128,000-192,000
Lot 3 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
One of the world’s most exciting and forward-thinking young painters, the enigmatic Lucy Bull’s work is defined by dialectic, opposition, contrast – precision and abandon, order and chaos, concord and discord. Not Yet Titled stands as one of the artist’s largest visions, where forms and patterns seem to emerge to allow us grounding in the composition, only to then fall away as the kaleidoscopic sands of pigment shift eternal, forcing self-accusations of pareidolia. This is the artist’s debut auction in Asia, and only second time ever at auction.
Untitled, 2020
oil on linen
30.7 x 30.6 cm. (12 1/8 x 12 in.)
Estimate
HK$700,000 – 900,000
€83,000-107,000
$89,700-115,000
Lot 155 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Day Sale
Inspired by Renaissance painting, Minimalist sculpture and jazz music, Stanley Whitney’s oeuvre has become central to the current discourse of abstract painting in the contemporary era, with recent solo exhibitions at the Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. As Lauren Haynes, curator of Whitney’s solo show at the Studio Museum in 2015, aptly wrote, “Whitney’s work interrogates the connections among colors… Whitney’s paintings remind us, on a universal scale, of the ability of color to trigger feelings and sensations.”
Untitled, 2017
oil stick and graphite on paper mounted to panel, in artist’s frame
133.4 x 105.4 cm. (52 1/2 x 41 1/2 in.)
Estimate
HK$600,000 – 800,000
€71,200-94,900
$76,900-103,000
Lot 156 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Day Sale
Harold Ancart’s expansive multimedia practice comments on landscapes, constructed environments, and the way humans move through space. His paintings often appear as grand tableaux with abstract color blocks and natural forms, such as in the current lot. His work has been widely shown in New York, London, Brussels, Paris, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and Berlin and is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou among others.
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
acrylic on canvas
102 x 130 cm. (40 1/8 x 51 1/8 in.)
Estimate
HK$ 7,500,000 – 10,000,000
€890,000 – 1,190,000
$962,000 – 1,280,000
Lot 29 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Soulages’ attention to black has been a lifelong preoccupation for over 70 years in his creative production, and since 1979 with exclusive devotion when he achieved theoretic and existential breakthrough. What unfolded was a chromatic opulence, offered by the single tone of black — a practice labelled as Outrenoir (Beyond Black) by the artist. In the present lot, a shining example of his mature practice, Soulages creates a patchwork of bold horizontal strokes, where light bounces between each panel, resulting in a transcendent compositional dialogue.
From Line No. 790372, 1979
oil and mineral pigment on canvas
135.2 x 166.8 cm. (53 1/4 x 65 5/8 in.)
Estimate
HK$9,000,000 – 14,000,000
€1,070,000-1,670,000
$1,150,000-1,790,000
Lot 28 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Responding to the rapid industrialization of Japan during the 1970s, Korean Minimalist artist Lee Ufan turns away from Western representation. He returns to calligraphy and Japanese Nihonga style of painting for inspiration. “From Line No. 790372” of 1979 is a great example of the artist’s early celebrated series concentrating on the method of repetition, of which he dedicated over ten years of his life between 1973 and 1984 in creating. This series has been exhibited internationally, including at the Guggenheim Museum, New York and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.
Conjunction 90-002, 1990
oil on hemp canvas
120 x 120 cm. (47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in.)
Estimate
HK$600,000 – 800,000
€71,400-95,200
$76,900-103,000
Lot 176 — 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Day Sale
A leading member of the Dansaekhwa group, Ha Chong-Hyun began his Conjunction series in 1970s post-war Korea and has dedicated his practice to this series ever since. The burlap he began to substitute in place of the more traditional canvas allows him to approach each painting from the reverse, pushing thick paint through the loose weave. The oil paint then emerges from the front, creating a texture that has become entirely unique to Ha’s practice— with the current lot as a great example.
Phillips 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Auctions
Preview: Hong Kong / 18-22 June
20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Day Sale
21 June, 12 pm HKT
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
22 June, 6 pm HKT
