Phillips’s “Under The Influence” Sale Offers New and Established Names

Nate Lowman
God Bless the Dead (2006)
latex, flashe, bumper sticker on canvas is estimated at $24–32,000. Photo: Courtesy Phillips

Phillips continues to carve out the specialty niche it has created of offering recently executed works by younger, emerging artists with its upcoming “Under The Influence” sale in London on December 10. The sale, which will introduce the work of artists Erik Lindman and Paul Cowan to auction for the first time and includes lower priced works by blue-chip artists like Andy Warhol, is billed as “a great entry point to the contemporary world for young collectors,” according to head of sale Tamila Kerimova.

Along with Warhol’s small-scale canvas Toy Series (1983) advertising a “wind-up toy roll over mouse” estimated to sell for $95,900–128,000 (£60–80,000), Phillips will offer two lace paintings by Mark Flood, Adam McEwen’s “obituary” of living runner Caster Semenya, and a “star constellation” painting by Ugo Rondinone. Cowan, an artist with New York’s Clifton Benevento, has two paintings for auction, one of which is Fish Hooks (2012)—a canvas with fishing lures affixed to the surface. Lindman’s (he’s with Almine Rech Gallery) abstract oil painting Sails (2011) is for sale. Both are estimated to sell for $6,400-9,600 (or £4,000-6,000).

Paul Cowan Fish Hooks (2012) canvas, fishing lures, is estimated at $6,400–9,600. Photo: Courtesy Phillips

Other new material by young artists includes Michael Manning’s Microsoft Store Paintings (2013) estimated to sell for $6,400–9,600, Christian Rosa’s mixed media on canvas H>N>I>C  head…, (2013) with an estimate of $28,700–35,200 (£18–22,000), and work by Ryan Estep, Leo Gabin, Parker Ito, Nina Baier, Hugh Scott-Douglas, Dan Rees, and Michael Staniak. Staniak’s mixed-media work SC/IMG_435 , which is estimated to sell for $8–11,200 (or £5–7,000), is featured on the catalogue cover.

In all, there are 220 lots on offer with an overall presale estimate of $2.6–3.8 million (£1.6–2.4 million).