Two Basquiat works withdrawn from Christie’s auction
New York City, US, May 10 (EFE).- Two works by Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat were withdrawn Tuesday from a 21st century art auction at Christie’s.
When news broke out that “See Plate 3” and “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict” were being withdrawn from the event, a murmur went around the room.
Christie’s told the media after the auction that the reason those two works did not go on sale was because the auction house and the seller believed that the market was not ready.
Meanwhile, German artist Gerhard Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild” became the evening’s highest selling piece, going for $36.5 million in a matter of minutes.
Although the auction house had not announced an estimated price before the event began, this abstract oil-on-canvas work that was painted in 1994 was one of the works expected to go for the highest price, according to local media reports.
American artist Christopher Wool’s untitled text painting of “TROJNHOURS” – a play on the words ‘Trojan horse’ – in large black letters on a white canvas sold for $8.405 million, although its estimated price was as high as $12 million.
“Be Happy” by the Japanese Yoshitomo Nara was auctioned at $6.42 million, with an maximum estimated value of $7.5 million.
“Diamond In The Rough” by anonymous street artist Banksy, which was valued at between $3 million and $5 million, sold for $3.66 million.
Although the price did not exceed the auction house’s expectations, Christie’s told reporters that the work sold for a much higher price than the one at which the previous owner had bought it.
Another characteristic of this piece is that it could be purchased with cryptocurrencies, just like “Casa Batllo: Living Architecture” by audiovisual artist Refik Anadol in non-fungible tokens.
The multimedia work, which reinterprets the famous facade of Barcelona’s modernist building Casa Batllo by architect Antonio Gaudí, was sold for $1.38 million, well within its estimated price range of between $1 million to $2 million.
In total Christie’s sold 31 works of art for $103,064,200. EFE
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