June 2021 Auction Results
June 2021 was certainly not a disappointment for the art world. Here's a round-up of the most successful artists throughout June sales.
Global Success
Jade Fadojutimi
If you haven't heard about her, you may want to peek through her practice and works: Jadé Fadojutimi. The Royal College of Art 2017 graduate has seen her popularity rising exponentially in the past year. The youngest artist in the Tate collection has recently had her first big auction sale at Sotheby's and Phillips (New York and Hong Kong). The three paintings sold for almost five times more than their highest estimate. Fadojutimi works feel energetic and colourful, creating a pleasurable experience for the viewer. Her work primes for a fresh retake on abstraction, as she tries to portrait raw emotions through poetic compositions. We will soon have a full article just about Fadojutimi’s practice - stay tuned!
London Favourites
Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein
It seems like London is Pop-Art obsessed right now. Can you relate? Both Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were the most celebrated names on auction at Phillips "Evening and Day Editions" on the 14th-15th June in London. Most of their lots sold for higher than expected.
On Hong Kong's Radar
Banksy, Kusama & Matthew Wong
Hong Kong sales have been under everyone's watch as the art market has been growing remarkably. Asian art collectors are becoming increasingly interested in western art, which is a trend that only seems to be gaining momentum. The past few months, we have been seeing Basquiat and Picasso leading the record sales. But June has proved to have a slight twist to it! Although Basquiat and Picasso had the highest estimate prices, these were not ultimately the most impressive sales. This month seemed to be about Banksy, Kusama and Matthew Wong who all crushed their highest estimates.
Banksy’s iconic monkey, "Laugh Now But One Day We'll Be in Charge" (2000), sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong for an impressive 17,720,000 HKD over its estimate of 9.3m HKD. As for Kusama, her beautiful and, also one of the most recent, blue net paintings titled "Nets Obsession" (2004) sold for almost double its highest estimate at Phillips on the 8th of June. If you are impressed by these, what if we told you that Matthew Wong's "Figure in a Night Landscape" sold for almost five times more than expected.