On September 23rd, Christies the New York auction house hosted “Artists for Haiti” bringing a staggering total of $13,662,000 to help the earthquake-damaged and impoverished Caribbean nation. 27 lots were bid on by celebrities and Actor Ben Stiller and art dealer David Zwirner presented the event which was well-attended by dealers as well as the Hollywood set. A Jeff Koons fetched $400,000 as Stiller’s winning bid took the piece as well as $200,000 for a Martin Kippenberger designed street lamp sculpture.
Jennifer Aniston made celebrity news after she purchased a $450,000 painting with her boyfriend Justin Theroux. The painting is called “Stranger #44″ and is the work of artist Glenn Ligon. Ligon is one of the most important contemporary American artists alive, and an exhibition on his work titled “Glenn Ligon: AMERICA” just ended at the Whitney Museum. Glenn Ligon’s canvas brought well above the $150-200,000 estimate, though the previous record for Ligon’s work was $434,500 during a Sothebys auction in September 2010.
A piece by Raymond Pettibon titled “No Title (From life to…)” sold for $760,000, a price dwarfed only by his work “No Title (But the sand),” which went for $820,000. A Marlen Dumas sold for $2,000,000 and a Luc Tuymans sold for $1,150,000
Tennis star John McEnroe lost a bidding battle for Zhang Huan’s ash-on-canvas titled “Chinese Flag No. 1″ to Acquavella Gallery. But he did win Elizabeth Petyon’s colored pencil and pastel portrait of Jay-Z for $85,000.
Susan Sarandon and Bill Clinton also attended.
Artists donated their own works to the auction and Christie’s waived the buyer’s premium for the event.
Posted by Suzanna Bowling
on September 26, 2011. Filed under Art,ENTERTAIMENT.
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