Following a successful Art Basel Hong Kong, Sotheby’s unveiled a new format for its annual Hong Kong sales, combining modern and contemporary in a single evening sale, and pairing it with the Asia debut of its ultra-contemporary The Now sale. Artnet’s Vivienne Chow combed through the macro numbers for the event, finding solid results in the modern-contemporary section, despite the difficulty in comparing year-over-year imposed by the new format. However, a more granular look at overall results reveals that troubling undercurrents in the ultra-contemporary category appear to have carried over from last year.
To be blunt, The Now, Modern Day, and Contemporary Day sales were stories of flips that failed. Two of the top lots by estimated value were withdrawn: Nicolas Party’s Still Life (2017) and KAWS’s Untitled (Calvin Klein) (2000), the latter work consigned to Sotheby’s by fashion designer and entrepreneur Marc Eckō after being acquired directly from KAWS. Works by Avery Singer, Nicole Eisenman, Elizabeth Peyton, Joyce Pensato, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby that appeared at auction within the last five years also failed to sell.
Most concerning, however, might be Jamian Juliano-Villani’s 2020 painting West End Girls, which headed to the block hot on the heels of her first solo show at gallery giant Gagosian this past March. That work sold for $118,750 in New York at a 2020 charity auction for Topical Cream, a nonprofit that supports women and gender nonconforming persons in contemporary art. That figure was more than double its low estimate. The same work sold last week at a Hong Kong Contemporary Day sale without a reserve for HK$139,700 ($17,829), a whopping 85 percent drop from its 2020 sale price.
Other flips that failed include Zao Wou-Ki’s oil painting Hommage á Chillida (2004). The painting last sold in 2013 at a Christie’s London evening sale for $964,097 on an estimate of $385,100–$539,140. At the evening sale in Hong Kong last week, it sold for HK$5.7 million ($727,000) on an estimate of HK$10 million–HK$20 million ($1.28 million–$2.56 million).
It should be noted at the same time that Zao’s 04.10.85 was among the top five lots of the evening, selling within estimate for HK$40.3 million ($5.14 million). Two of his other works at the Modern Day auction—27.12.00 and Sans titre—sold well above their highs, for HK$10.8 million ($1.4 million) and HK$2 million ($259,568), respectively. Both saw plenty of action, with 40 bids on the former and 14 on the latter.
Flips with even shorter turnarounds included Jadé Fadojutimi’s Fishing for Steps (2017). When it sold at Phillips Hong Kong in November 2021, the painting took in HK$4.78 million ($614,000), more than double its HK$2.2 million ($282,100) high estimate. At The Now evening sale this past week, it was a different story: it sold for HK$1.8 million ($235,227), just under its low HK$2 million ($260,000) estimate.
That nearly $400,000 drop in value is striking, given that the artist has been on a roll at auction since joining Gagosian’s roster in July 2022. The Woven Warped Garden of Ponder (2021) set a new auction record for Fadojutimi just last month when it sold at Christie’s London for $2 million, following fast upon her previous record, $1.9 million for Quirk my mannerism (2021), set this past November at Phillips New York.
Fadojutimi has seen other auction misses too. Also last November, her 2017 painting Lotus Land, estimated at HK$2.5 million–HK$3.5 million ($320,000–$448,000), failed to sell at Christie’s Hong Kong. It had sold at Phillips New York in December 2020 for $378,000, well above its $40,000–$60,000 estimate.
Lastly, an untitled Salman Toor painting from 2010 that fetched more than $258,000 at Christie’s London in July 2021—soaring past its $41,367 high estimate—also went on the block at Sotheby’s Hong Kong last week in the Contemporary Day sale. It sold within estimate for HK$762,000 ($97,300), less than half its previous take.
Such results didn’t go unnoticed by longtime Hong Kong gallerist Daphne King-Yao of Alisan Fine Arts. Her artist Walasse Ting had three works on offer at the Modern day sale. Two of the three didn’t sell, including Peach blossom and willow giggling together (1974), a failed flip for the consignor, who acquired it from Christie’s Hong Kong in November 2019 for HK$812,500.
“The auction house probably had a hard time getting good things and getting things to sell,” King-Yao told ARTnews. “Because if you could hold on to it, why would you sell now if the market’s not strong?”
Beyond the possible specter of weak material, King-Yao said that the sales may have suffered from a dearth of collectors from China, which has been rumored since January to be in a recession. Another possible explanation, according to King-Yao: fair fatigue. The Sotheby’s auctions took place not long after many collectors attended Art Basel Hong Kong, which recorded solid sales results, several in seven figures.
“You might have bought everything at the fair already,” King-Yao said, noting that her booth did well, like many others.
Lest we paint an overly glum picture, note that there were still some winners among the Hong Kong sales: Japanese artists Yoshitomo Nara, Yayoi Kusama, and Takashi Murakami scored, with all five Kusama works and four by Nara sold. In fact, Nara’s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (2017) was the top-selling lot, pulling in HK$95.9 million ($12.2 million).
And, as Artnet noted, the auction house did sell several key lots at prices within their estimates, including works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Wu Guanzhong, and Nara. Picasso’s Le Peintre (1963) sold to an Asian collector for HK$78.7 million ($10 million).
Look for the next market signal to come in just a month, when the auction houses launch their all-important New York sales.
