Christie’s New York delivered a successful 21st-Century Evening Sale, drawing a packed auction room despite the weather. While works by the well-known artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and David Hockney provided the evening’s marquee moments, the real story lay in the ascent of emerging artists, who drove competitive bidding and set multiple auction records. The sale came to $106.5 million with fees and offered 42 lots-11 of which broke records, showcasing a market that was ever-increasing thrall to the sound of new voices in contemporary art.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s untitled 1982 work on paper became the night’s top lot, selling for $22.9 million w/fees. Though it narrowly missed its $20–30 million estimate, the drawing—famously featured in The New York Times obituary following the artist’s untimely death in 1988—set a record for Basquiat’s most expensive work on paper.
Four Empty Vases by David Hockney (1996), a riotous still life coming to the market for the first time in almost 30 years, brought $8.6 million with fees, falling comfortably within its $6–8 million estimate. Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama (2022), the most significant work in this format ever to appear at auction, made $6.82 million with fees but just undershot its $6–8 million estimate.
And yet, the night underscored a changing tide in collector interest away from blue-chip consistency and toward emerging and mid-career artists who could offer new views and competitive price points.
The evening opened with four back-to-back auction records, indicating the voracious appetite for the works of rising talent. Firelei Báez started the night with her auction debut of a 2017 painting that sold for $567,000 with fees paid, well above its $100,000–150,000 estimate. Quickly up next was Sasha Gordon’s Gone Fishing (2019), which sold for $214,200 with fees. Earlier this year, Gordon joined the roster of megadealer David Zwirner, a surefire indicator of the rapid rise in the art world.
Setting another record, Denzil Forrester’s Street Music (1989) sold for $189,000 with fees. An untitled 1985 sculpture by Ana Mendieta female figure burned into wood using gunpowder- achieved $756,000 with fees, further entrenching her posthumous market ascendancy.
Cecily Brown’s The Butcher and the Policeman (2013) became one of the night’s most hotly contested lots. After a frenetic bidding war, the abstract painting was sold to a phone bidder for $5.87 million w/ fees.
Works by contemporary stars Hilary Pecis, Sarah Sze, and Roni Horn also surpassed expectations. Pecis’s Wine at J’s (2020) realized $1.26 million with fees, well over her auction record. Sze’s Long Ending (2019) sold for $1 million with fees, while Roni Horn’s untitled 2009-10 work reached $1.8 million with fees, for a record.
Also establishing new high water marks were Louise Bourgeois’s Les Fleurs, 2009, which realized $2.59 million with fees, the most valuable of her works on paper, and Keith Haring’s Untitled (Hollywood African Mask), 1987, which realized $3.19 million with fees, an auction record for his sculptures.
The lone lot that conspicuously tanked was Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Painkiller, 2011. It failed to sell at the outset but later sold for $600,000 after being reintroduced at a lower price, below its estimate of $800,000–1.2 million.
The sale’s hammer total of $87.47 million, without premiums, was roughly on par with last year’s $88.4 million result in the same event. However, 2023’s more conservative estimates cast the outcome in a favourable light. The steady interest in contemporary works signals resilience in a market marked by caution, particularly for emerging talent.
This trend fits within the broader art market landscape. While Christie’s and Sotheby’s have hosted headline-grabbing moments—such as René Magritte’s $121.1 million painting and Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.2 million banana sculpture—the overall mood has shifted toward modest growth and carefully curated offerings.
The 21st-Century Evening Sale underscored the art market’s evolving dynamics. While stalwarts like Basquiat, Kusama, and Hockney remain touchstones, collectors are increasingly drawn to fresh perspectives. The enthusiasm for artists like Báez, Gordon, and Forrester reflects a desire for new narratives in contemporary art.
In this changed landscape, the emergence of voices from other locations is no longer a sideshow but a main protagonist in shaping the future of art collecting. The record-setting auction on Thursday night proved that the art world was hungry for what’s next.
Top Photo: Courtesy Christie’s