The 2023 Hong Kong autumn auctions of various auction houses are in full swing. Phillips Hong Kong's "20th Century and Contemporary Art" evening auction and day auction concluded perfectly on October 6 and October 7 respectively. The two auctions also brought together a series of fine masterpieces by well-known modern and contemporary artists, with a total of more than 130 lots on offer.The total transaction rate was 83%, and the total transaction volume was nearly HK$243 million.A total of 4 million-level auctions and 27 million-level auctions were produced.
 

Transaction Highlights

1. A total of 4 tens of millions of auction items were produced.

• The leading lot, "No Means No" by Yoshitomo Nara, was sold for HK$65.53 million, setting the highest price for a Nara work at Hong Kong's autumn auction this week.
• Nicolas Partey's "Still Life with Olives" was sold for HK$25.86 million, Liu Ye's "The Last Baroque" was sold for HK$22.23 million, and Gerhard Richter's "Abstract Painting (456-2)" was sold for HK$11.34 million.

2. Young artists’ stable sales accounted for 36% of the total sales

Young artists born after 1970 have achieved steady results.There were 73 items put up for auction, accounting for 53% of the total auction volume, and the total transaction volume was HK$87.32 million, accounting for 36% of the total transaction volume., fully demonstrates Phillips’ ability to collect highly sought-after masterpieces from promising emerging artists from around the world.

• Hilary Pecis's work "Untitled" was sold for nearly HK$7 million, becoming the artist's third most expensive work ever sold at auction.
• Ebejo Muslimova's work "FATEBE" sold for three times more than its pre-auction estimate, setting a world auction record for the artist.
• Works by artists such as Hillary Persis, Henan Bass, Tomoe Matsuyama, Issy Wood, Chen Fei, Huang Yuxing, Ma Ke, Wei Jia and other artists also received enthusiastic bidding from collectors, all of which sold for more than the auction price. Transaction before valuation.

3. Fierce bidding for multiple lots

• After 16 bids, Issy Wood's "Swan/He Can't 2" was sold for HKD 2,032,000 (estimate: HKD 1,000,000 -2,000,000)
• After 16 bids, Huang Jinxi's "MacLehose Trail: Section 10" was sold for HK$1,143,000 (estimate: HK$300,000 - HK$500,000)
• After 17 bids, "Fatebe" by Ebejo Muslimova was sold for HK$889,000 (estimate: HK$250,000 - HK$450,000)
• After 22 bids, Yue Minjun's "Modern Terracotta Warriors and Horses No. 5" was sold for HKD 635,000 (estimate: HKD 200,000 - 300,000)
• After 22 bids, Yang Xianjun's "Big Kids - Star Wars" was sold for HK$508,000 (estimate: HK$80,000-120,000)
• After 21 bids, Daisy⸱Dude⸱Noble's "Deia's Woods" was sold for HKD 508,000 (estimate: HKD 40,000 - 80,000)

4. Refresh the artist’s auction record

• Huang Jinxi, Yang Xianjun, Felix Treadwell set new artist personal records;
• Miriam Kahn, Keiichi Tanaami, Celeste Rapone, César Piette set the second highest price for an artist;
• Nicholas Patty, Hilary Persis, Robin F Williams, Huilin Chen, Ode Laval and many other artists set the third highest price for an artist.

Anastasia Salnikoff, Head of Day Sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Phillips Hong Kong, said: 

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

The total transaction volume is nearly 190 million Hong Kong dollars, and the transaction rate is 96%.
 

Phillips’ “20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale” offered a total of 23 lots.Total transaction volume exceeded HK$189 million, with a total transaction rate of 96%, 35% of the lots were sold over the estimated price, and 44% of the lots were sold within the estimated price.

The top three lots sold in this auction

Yoshitomo Nara's "No Means No" was sold for HK$54 million, plus commission for HK$65.53 million. "No Means No" appeared at auction for the first time. It was produced in 2006, when Yoshitomo Nara was at the peak of his artistic creation.Works created by the artist in the same year with similar styles and themes have been included in the collections of many well-known art institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. This work was also featured in the "AZ" project special exhibition at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in 2008, which was also the first major British public art institution exhibition between Nara and graf.

Nicholas Patty's "Still Life with Olives" was sold for HK$21 million, plus commission for HK$25.86 million."Still Life with Olives" is an exquisite example of the artist's use of surrealist brushwork to depict everyday still life and scenes. It was exhibited in his solo exhibition at the Glasgow Institute of Modern Art in 2013, which was the artist's first major exhibition in the UK. Solo exhibition."Still Life with Olives" is one of seven still life paintings created by Parti for this exhibition, and each painting took nearly 10 to 20 months to complete.

Liu Ye's "The Last Baroque" was sold for HK$18 million, plus commission for HK$22.23 million.In Liu Ye's two-meter-tall masterpiece "The Last Baroque", billowing smoke rises from a burning hull into a sky dyed orange by flames. The scene contrasts with the sunset and shocks us.Such a large-scale painting is quite rare, with less than 30 works of this scale appearing on the auction market so far., I have never seen Liu Ye’s works of this size on the market this year.
 

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

The total transaction volume exceeded HKD 52.77 million and the transaction rate was 80%.
 

Phillips’ “20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale” featured 116 lots.The total transaction volume was HK$52.7774 million, with a total transaction rate of 80%.Among them, 31% of the lots were sold over the estimated price, and 41% were sold within the estimated price.

The top three lots sold in this auction

Yayoi Kusama's "Phantom Wilds" was sold for HK$3.5 million, plus commission for HK$4.445 million."Fantasy" was created two years after the artist was nominated to represent his country at the 1993 Venice Biennale. At that time, she chose pumpkin as the theme. It can be seen that Yayoi Kusama has been using pumpkin as the theme from a long time ago, and it has become her most personal and iconic symbol so far.
 

Zeng Fanzhi's "Scenery" was sold for HK$2 million, plus commission for HK$2.54 million."Landscape" comes from an important series of abstract landscape paintings that Zeng Fanzhi began to create in the early 2000s. The vines in the painting are vibrant and emit an unusual light. Over the past two decades, these landscape subjects have become one of Zeng Fanzhi's most distinguished and publicly recognized series. "View" was created in 2005 and is the mature work of this famous series. The new millennium was a major turning point for Zeng Fanzhi, who moved away from his famous "Mask" series to explore the realm of landscape painting.

Javier Kalega's "In This World" was sold for HK$1.8 million, plus commission for HK$2.286 million.In Kaleja’s world, eyes evoke the bittersweet moments between sadness and relief that he experienced in his 2016 water drop experiments. "In the World" was created in 2022. A pair of emerald green gradient eyes sparkle with awe, almost protruding from the flat composition.

Transaction status of other lots

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For more details of the auction, please click on the special sale to view