$2.8 Million Paul McCarthy Sale Among Bevy of Pricey Trophies Sold at Art Basel

Eileen Kinsella June 19, 2015 ShareShare This Article

The energetic pace of sales spilled over into the latter half of the fair, judging from sales reports we recently fielded from dealers.

“Business at this year’s Art Basel has been brisk and continuous,” said Iwan Wirth, co-director of Hauser & Wirth, in an email. “We are proud to have placed more works in museum collections than ever before in our history at the fair, including a significant piece by Mike Kelley.”

He continued, “We also managed to place all four of our Unlimited projects, some of which are complex films and installations—a testament to the unrivalled reputation of Art Basel and the collectors it attracts. We also made a very special contribution to the city this week with the installation of the pop-up Roth Bar at Les Trois Rois, and have been overwhelmed by its popularity. A success all round!”

Paul McCarthy, White Snow (Bambi) (2013). Image: via Curiator.com

Paul McCarthy, White Snow (Bambi) (2013).
Photo: via curiator.com.

The gallery sold Paul McCarthy’s White Snow, Bambi (marble) (2013) for $2.8 million. The current record for the artist is Tomato Head (Green) (1994), which sold for $4.6 million at Christie’s New York in 2011.

Among its other top sellers on the fourth day were: a large-scale glass work by Roni Horn, Untitled (“An otherwise unexplained fire in a dwelling inhabited only by women.”) (2014), that was priced at $1.25 million; Thomas Houseago’s Head on Carving I (2014), priced at $225,000; Takesada Matsutani’s Untitled (work 64-2) (1964), sold for $60,000; and Jakub Julian Ziolkowski’s Indigestion (2012) sold for €14,000 ($16,000).

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Shove it, starve it, blind it, choke it, drown it, shame it, buy it, fuck it (1986)
Photo: Christie’s.

Sprüth Magers sold Barbara Kruger’s diptych Untitled (Shove it, starve it, blind it, choke it, drown it, shame it, buy it, fuck it) (1986) for $350,000 and John Baldessari’s Bond (1988), comprised of black and white photographs and vinyl paint, for $550,000 to a European collector.

Mexico City gallery OMR’s booth at Art Basel.

Galeria OMR of Mexico City sold ten sculptures by Jose Dávila for prices ranging from $30–60,000 each.

Also from Mexico City, Proyectos Monclova sold three pieces by Federico Herrero, including a major painting at about $50,000, two others around $40,000 and a floor piece priced at $18,000.

Fraenkel Gallery reported sales including: four Richard Avedon prints, (1967 printed 1990), John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, musicians, August 11, 1967 for $550,000; a Hiroshi Sugumoto print entitled, Lake Superior, Cascade River, (1995) for $400,000; and Diane Arbus’s A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street N.Y.C. 1966 (printed between 1966–68), for $190,000.