Phillips Limps to the Finish Line

Dan Flavin James Rosenquist Philip Guston Anish Kapoor John Baldessari Robert Gober Marcel Duchamp Feng Zhengjie

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Phillips continued its strong suit of presenting younger artists. Aaron Young's three-part abstraction Burn Out (California Is a Garden of Eden, A Paradise for You and Me, But Believe or Not) (2008), in burnt rubber and acrylic on aluminum panel, sold to London dealer Simon Lee for a record $60,000 (est. $35–45,000).

Also holding its own was super-traded Chinese artist Feng Zhengjie’s Chinese Portrait L Series 2006 No. 10 (2006), which sold to Dutch collector Herman Heinsbroek for $128,500 (est. $70–90,000).

“I think a year ago it would have sold for $360,000,” said Heinsbroek after the sale, “so it’s a third the price. I’m pretty comfortable it won’t go any lower. We are getting to the bottom of the crisis, I think. Slowly but surely, it will go up again.”

It did feel that way at moments, despite the glaringly unpacked salesroom, evidence that the long week of sales had taken its toll on spectators’ appetites and buyers’ pocketbooks.

Apprising the action moments after the sale, star auctioneer and Phillips de Pury’s namesake chairman Simon de Pury noted, “The Robert Gober didn’t sell this evening even though it’s a seminal work in his oeuvre. The picture tonight would look very different with the star lot sold.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.