Phillips’s “New Now” auction totaled $5.5 million in New York last night. The sale was led by an untitled Wade Guyton work from 2007, which sold for $241,300—more than three times its low estimate of $70,000 (all prices include fees). The evening posted a 72% sell-through rate by lot, with 149 of the 208 lots offered finding buyers.
“It was wonderful to see such a strong depth of international bidding in our New York ‘New Now’ sale, with nearly 50 countries participating on the phone, online, and in the saleroom,” said Avery Semjen, an associate specialist at Phillips and head of the evening’s sale. “Bids placed from all corners of the globe led to a particularly impressive showing for works by post-war and contemporary masters, including Andy Warhol, Shara Hughes, Richard Mayhew, and Ghada Amer.”
The top five lots from the sale were as follows:
- Wade Guyton’s Untitled (2007) sold for $241,300.
- Shara Hughes’s Lillypad Palace (2016) sold for $234,950.
- Andy Warhol’s Heaven and Hell Are Just One Breath Away (Positive) (1985–86) sold for $222,250.
- Sam Gilliam’s New Orleans (1979) sold for $190,500.
- Sterling Ruby’s SP183 (2011) sold for $165,100.
The sale also yielded two auction records for the following artists:
- Sarah Lee, for Moonrise Over the Sea (2022), which sold for $16,510.
- Diana Al-Hadid, for Mob Mentality (2014), which sold for $69,850.
