Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, May 16 and 17, 2013 @Phillips New York

The photography buried in Phillips' two Contemporary Art sales last week provided ample proof that if the available works are well edited and the Buy-In rate can be kept low, the overall results are usually plenty successful. In this case, less than 9% of the photographs on offer failed to find buyers, driving the Total Sale Proceeds over the top of aggregate pre-sale high estimate.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 34
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $2680000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $3980000
Total Lots Sold: 31
Total Lots Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 8.82%
Total Sale Proceeds: $4073250

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 0
Low Sold: NA
Low Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total Low Estimate: $0
Total Low Sold: NA

Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 18
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 5.26%
Total Mid Estimate: $480000
Total Mid Sold: $568750

High Total Lots: 15
High Sold: 13
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 13.33%
Total High Estimate: $3500000
Total High Sold: $3504500

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 7, Andreas Gursky, Rhein, 1996, estimated at $1000000-1500000; it was also the top outcome of the sales at 1925000

82.35% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, and there were a total of 3 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 194, Andreas Gursky, Untitled 1 (Carpet), 1993, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $173000 (image at right, top, via Phillips)
Lot 210, Vik Muniz, Valentine, The Fastest from The Sugar Children, 1996, estimated at $20000-25000, sold at $81250 (image at right, middle, via Phillips)
Lot 252, Ruud van Empel, World #16, 2006, estimated at $12000-18000, sold at $43750 (image at right, bottom, via Phillips)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

Phillips
450 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Ruud van Empel, Sunday @Stux

JTF (just the facts): A total of 7 color works, hung in the upper viewing area in the back of the gallery. 5 of the works are archival pigment prints, framed in brown wood, from 2012. These prints are sized 28x20, and are available in editions of 7+2AP. The other 2 works are archival pigment prints mounted to Dibond and Plexiglas, unframed, also from 2012. These works are sized 59x41, and are available in editions of 5+2AP. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Ruud van Empel's small show provides two new bodies of work to contemplate, both in his now-signature style of flawlessly stitched together, composite imagery. At this point, van Empel's digital collages of meticulously rendered but somehow surreal children are immediately identifiable, and these new projects don't stray too far from his proven visual formula.

 

Most of the images in the exhibit substitute a backdrop of manicured, formal gardens for the lush jungle vegetation the artist has regularly employed as a setting. But there is something over-the-top and manic about these manufactured gardens filled with endless topiaries, pruned evergreens, boxwood hedges and shrubbery specimens. Kids primly stand in their Sunday best (thus the title of the series), freckly red haired boys in proper coats and ties, and black children in snappy blazers and bow ties or sweater dresses and mary janes. As they pose on the gravel paths, with a stray peacock or dove nearby, the gardens engulf and overtake them, controlled nature on the verge of out of control. For the first time, van Empel has also introduced an older lady as a subject, seen up close, in a fur collared coat. The background of her portrait explodes with angular, geometric forms in green, with a nod to the Renaissance, but inexplicably dense and layered.

 

The other two images on view play with linear perspective in new ways. A crowd of kids of varying sizes (and varying outfits) is arrayed against a formless grey background, seemingly following the rules of aerial depth perception but floating unrooted to any landscape. Shadows are cast by the children (so there is a consistent light source), but otherwise they have no connection to a setting or narrative. The works almost seem like a temporary peg board resting place for van Empel's fancy fabricated kids, as though he was simply waiting to insert them into some other elaborate scene but they have been stranded in this endless netherworld in the meantime. While the colors are bright and energetic, the works felt oddly dispiriting, like the well-meaning kids were trapped in some kind of cleaned-up stylish hell.

 

Part of what I like about van Empel's work is this sense of discomfort that grows as you look as his photographs. The first glance always seems placid and inviting, but a closer examination always seems to uncover an undercurrent of the threatening, the puzzling, or the unsettlingly mismatched. It's a hyper-perfect world, where the fastidious, glossy detail is often slightly disturbing.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The smaller 28x20 prints are $24000 and the larger 59x41 prints are $32000. Van Empel's prints have become more consistently available in the secondary markets in recent years. Prices at auction have ranged between roughly $15000 and $120000.

 

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

 

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Exhibit: MOPA, San Diego, 2012 (here)
• Feature: Trendland (here)

Ruud van Empel, Sunday

Through October 20th

 

Stefan Stux Gallery

530 West 25th Street

New York, NY 10001

Daniele Tamagni & Africolor @Danziger

Yet another holdover review from the summer.

JTF (just the facts): A two part show, with color photographs by Daniele Tamagni in the main gallery space and a group show entitled Africolor in the back room. The Tamagni exhibit consists of 12 c-prints framed in white and matted, each 12x18, 20x28 or 28x39 or reverse, in editions of 10, from 2008. A monograph of this body of work, entitled Gentlemen of Bacongo, was published by Trolley Books in 2009 (here). The Africolor exhibit consists of 24 works from 7 different photographers, variously framed and matted or pinned directly to the wall. (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers are included in the Africolor portion of the exhibit; the number of prints on view and their details are in parentheses:

• Samuel Fosso (2 digital c-prints from the series TATI, each roughly 59x63, in editions of 3+2AP, from 1997)
• Martin Parr (6 Lambda prints, either 24x20, 24x36, or 50x70, from 2001-2005)
• JR (1 pigment print, 26x40, from 2008)
• Malick Sidibe (8 gelatin silver prints with hand painted glass and cardboard frames, ranging from 4x3 to 16x12, from 1974 to 2003)
• Mickalene Thomas (2 c-prints, each 40x50, in editions of 5, from 2010)
• Ruud van Empel (2 cibachrome prints on dibond and Plexiglas, each 33x24, in editions of 13, from 2006 and 2008)
• Lolo Veleko (3 pigment prints, each 14x11, from 2002-2004)

Comments/Context: This smart combination of Italian photojournalist Daniele Tamagni’s images of dapper Congolese men and a supporting exhibit of color-driven African photography (loosely defined) gets my vote for the best summer group show of photography in New York this year. In contrast to the mind numbing boredom of the typical gathering of the gallery stable, this show introduces a memorable body of work and surrounds it with a relevant sampler of related pictures. It’s fresh, brash, and lively, with a snappy sense of style.
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Tamagni’s photographs chronicle the dapper fashions of members of La SAPE (La Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes). With a flair for extravagant, vibrant color (blazers in pink and lime green, pants in red and orange), their dashing suits and careful accessories provide a stark contrast to the poverty of their everyday lives. These gentlemen strut and swagger around town with elegant walking sticks and fedoras, creating an eye-catching mix of colonial and Congolese cultural remnants. The push and pull between the natty clothes and the realities of crumbling walls, wet laundry, and wandering children makes for visual contradictions that stand out.
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The paired Africolor show bursts with a cacophony of styles, colors and patterns. I found Martin Parr’s images from Dakar to be especially striking, from the dueling stripes of a dress and handbag, to a rainbow of shoe straps and a head covered in sunglasses for sale. Lolo Veleko’s portraits capture youthful street styles, with funky, unexpected combinations of fashions. And Mickalene Thomas’ interior portraits collect a dizzying number of patterns (curtains, pillows, sofa, and dress) in layers that defy logic but somehow work in electric harmony. With Sidibe, van Empel, and Fosso added to the mix, the room vibrates with casual glamour and dynamic energy.
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What I found most intriguing about this selection of photographs was the repeated sense of Western styles being appropriated and refashioned for local tastes, forging something entirely new and original out of the raw material of the familiar. All in, a positive pulse of life beats strongly throughout this entire exhibit, making it a welcome antidote to the sleepy status quo of the warm summer months.

Collector's POV: The prints by Daniele Tamagni are priced in ratcheting editions. The 12x18 works start at $3000 and rise to $5500 at the end of the edition, the 20x28 works start at $4000 and rise to $6500, and the 28x39 works start at $5000 and rise to $7500. Tamagni’s works have very little secondary market history, so gallery retail is likely the best option for interested collectors at this point.
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The prints in the Africolor portion of the show are priced as follows:

• Samuel Fosso: $5500 each
• Martin Parr: $3400, $6000, or $12000, based on size
• JR: $1500
• Malick Sidibe: $3800 or $8500, based on size
• Mickalene Thomas: $9000 each
• Ruud van Empel: $34000 or $38000
• Lolo Veleko: $3000 or $5500

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Tamagni artist site (here)
• Parr artist site (here)
• Thomas artist site (here)
• Review: Photo Booth (here)

Daniele Tamagni & Africolor

Through September 10th

Danziger Projects

527 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

Ruud van Empel, Wonder @Stux

JTF (just the facts): A total of 11 large scale color works, hung unframed in the entry, the two main gallery spaces, and the upper viewing area in the back of the gallery. All of the works are chromogenic prints mounted to Dibond and Plexiglas. Physical dimensions range from 33x24 to 49x130 (yes, wider than 10 feet); the larger images are printed in editions of 7+2AP, and the smaller images are printed in editions of 10+2AP. All of the works on view were made in 2010. A catalog of the exhibition is available from the gallery. (Installation shots at right.)
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Comments/Context: This show gathers together a variety of fresh work from the Dutch photographer Ruud van Empel, and finds him both continuing down old paths and evolving new but related ones to explore. Process-wise, we are still in the realm of elaborate composite images, where thousands of visual fragments have been Photoshopped together into van Empel's signature otherworldly hyper-reality, full of unnerving children portrayed in a combination of perfect detail and odd flatness.

Three of the images on view extend his popular World series, where black kids sit submerged in verdant, idealized pools (complete with lily pads and tropical flowers), or stand in plaid sport coats and party dresses amidst the clean, leafy eden. His Generation series of children in the rigid rows of a traditional school picture also has a new member; this time the risers are populated with a majority of Jewish kids. Other new works seem to riff on existing ideas, but expand them in new directions. The Theatre series takes the night time palette of the Moon series and applies it to dark, wooded scenes (almost like the forbidden forest of fairy tales), thick with tree trunks edge to edge. Connection seems to jump off from the Dawn series, but in an up-close panorama format, while Wonder seems descended from the Generation pictures, but is exploded outward to cram faces together in a crowded all-over pattern of childhood diversity. Brothers & Sisters takes some of the formality of the paired portraits of World, and adds the simple idea of family resemblance.

As a result, this show has the feeling of something altogether familiar, of van Empel subtly tuning and editing, but not changing the overall formula much; if you liked his prior work, you'll probably like these images as well, and if you didn't, you'll probably feel like these are more of the same. These recent pictures are not radical, frame-breaking experiments, but more a consolidation of the artist's complex visual toolkit, or perhaps better, a lively sprinkling of nuanced iterations.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced between $25000 and $98000, depending on size and on the location in the edition. In the past year or so, Van Empel's prints have found secondary market buyers between roughly $16000 and $35000.

My favorite image in the show was Brothers and Sisters 3, 2010; it's the picture on the left in the bottom installation shot. I like the idea of moving away from the consciously exotic; here van Empel has traded the lush, succulent jungle of the World series for the Northern forest in spring, placing two pale skinned, red haired children in 3/4 pose among the leaves. Even with the dated turtleneck sweater, it has an almost Victorian quality to it that I found intriguing.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)

Ruud van Empel, Wonder
Through May 14th
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Stefan Stux Gallery
530 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Snapshots from Paris Photo, Part 1

While we weren't able to visit Paris Photo this year, that doesn't mean we weren't dying to know what went on. With the help of a couple of intrepid correspondents armed with their snapshot cameras, we've been able to cobble together a thoroughly random sampler of highlights. From a larger pile of images taken in booths and around the fair, I've edited the group down to the small selection below (caption information is below each image). In the visual overload of an art fair, what catches one person's eye may be overlooked by the next person, so calling this "representative" of what was on display may or may not be entirely accurate. So why these and not others? Who knows, I'm just happy to get a glimpse of the fun.


Jaroslav Rössler at Howard Greenberg

Pierre Dubreuil at Barry Friedman

Baron Adolph de Meyer at Robert Klein

Daido Moriyama at Priska Pasquer

Margaret Watkins at Robert Mann


V. Dijon at Robert Hershkowitz

Ruud van Empel at Flatland

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Tina Barney and Lee Friedlander at Janet Borden. For those gallery folks out there who have heard me drone on about the tyranny of the standard white wall, check out the exuberant pink walls in this booth!

A fan in a gorilla suit at the Martin Parr book signing.

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Walker Evans at Edwynn Houk

Hamiltons booth


László Moholy-Nagy at Stephen Daiter


Toni Schneiders at Bernheimer

Sze Tsung Leong at Yossi Milo

Phaidon booth

Later this afternoon, I'll be posting Parts 2 and 3 of this series, a similarly eclectic gathering of pictures from some of the photo exhibitions around Paris during the fair.

Ruud van Empel, Generation @Stux

JTF (just the facts): A total of 4 color works, hung unframed in the upper viewing area in the back of the gallery. All of the works are chromogenic prints mounted to Dibond and Plexiglas. The two large works, each 49x130, are printed in editions of 7+2AP, and were made in 2010; the two smaller works, each 24x17, are printed in editions of 10+2AP, and were made in 2009.(Installation shots at right.)
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Comments/Context: In Ruud van Empel's newest works, the Dutch photographer has moved away from the lush leafiness of his previous jungle settings and has opted for the buttoned-up formality of the traditional class portrait, with rows of school children in their picture day best outfits, standing on risers against a yellow curtain. Squint your eyes to blur the details and his ten foot wide panoramas look like any school picture taken in the past 50 years.
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But when your eyes come back into focus, it becomes clear that van Empel's children are unlike any you have seen before. Using Photoshop to composite together hundreds of images, he has created a signature style that has become the hallmark of his work: glossy perfected children with big eyes, staring out from the plane of the picture with an almost surreal oddness - what seems at first glance to be idealized comes out more than a bit unsettling. In past works, he has highlighted a single child, or perhaps a pair of kids, sometimes in matching fancy dresses or sport coats, sometimes with bare skin. These new works amplify and expand his cast of characters, allowing him to play with clothing, hairstyles, and facial features to create a kaleidoscope of different personalities.
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On one wall, all of the school children are black; on the other, it's a predominantly white class with a lone black student. Subtleties of culture come out in bow ties and sweater vests, braids and barrettes, Peter Pan collars, striped turtlenecks, and bold, candy colored patterns, a range of faces lit by sparkly eyes and hiding underneath big glasses. In his prior work, van Empel used the natural environment of lily pads and flowers to create a kind of protected paradise for his subjects; in these works, he pushes on this concept of childhood innocence, but from a less fanciful and whimsical perspective; the formality of school creates boundaries and limits. The flatness of the compositions and the "optimized" children still make for an unnerving scene, but the entire effect seems better balanced with reality, closer to real life to make his tweaks and constructions all the more resonant.
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This show only contains a couple of works and its location in the galleries in the back tests the viewer's willingness to wander through another larger show to find the pictures. That said, I was intrigued to see how van Empel is evolving his style and finding new ways to situate his instantly recognizable characters.
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Collector's POV: The works in this small show are priced as follows. The two large images are priced between $59000 and $69000, depending on the location in the edition; the two small images are priced between $12000 and $14000, again in a rising edition. Van Empel's work has recently become more consistently available in the secondary markets, with a handful of lots coming up for sale in any given year. Prices have been steadily rising, from roughly $15000 to up over six figures, with a sweet spot in the low 30s. Van Empel is also represented by Flatland Gallery in Utrecht (here).
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As an aside, I think it would be fascinating to hang one of these van Empel school portraits together with one of Tomoko Sawada's class pictures (all of herself) to see the contrasts/commonalities in style and message.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)

Ruud van Empel, Generation
Through October 23rd

Stefan Stux Gallery
530 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Ruud van Empel: Souvenir, Dawn, Moon, World @Stux

JTF (just the facts): A total of 22 works (20 photographs and 2 bronze sculptures), displayed throughout the entry, the two lower galleries, and the upper galleries. The photographs are glossy Cibachrome prints, mounted to Dibond and plexiglass (not framed), all from 2008, ranging in size from approximately 33x24 for the smallest images up to wall sized murals. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: While digital manipulation has become the rule rather than the exception in new contemporary photography, Ruud van Empel's approach is something altogether more radical than a simple touch up. His works are composed of literally thousands of fragments and components of various photographs, meticulously merged and constructed within the confines of his computer. His images of children in lush garden settings are at once realistically detailed and fantastically fabricated, creating a surreal world where beauty and innocence are mixed with a small dose of an undefined and unsettling undercurrent: what is really going on here?
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Van Empel's process leads to pictures that are extremely painterly, with lush colors and classical compositions. In a previous post on Van Empel, we touched on connections to Rousseau and Disfarmer (post here); during this visit, we were struck by the relationship to early Renaissance portraits and allegorical paintings, where figures were abstracted to represent an idealized version of a person, rather than anyone in specific. The children in these images are expressionless, with big eyes and flawless skin; at one level they are perfect, at another they are just a bit creepy.

Van Empel has several series of works progressing at the same time, all of which are represented in this show of new work. The World images are likely the most recognizable to collectors, with deadpan white and black children situated in idealized tropical rain forests and lagoons (complete with water droplets and amazing insects). The Venus series uses this same setting for a series of symbolic nudes. The Moon series follows a similar formula of formal children against a natural background, only this time the images are moonlit, bringing darker blues and greens into van Empel's palette. The recent Dawn series has a more casual compositional style, with the children often resting in beds of flowers or lying in the leaves. While each of these projects has its own specific details, they all share the same general approach: the mix of natural beauty with the innocence of childhood, boiled down to neutral and artificial symbolic types.
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A series of wholly different and much more personal pictures entitled Souvenir are shown in the upper galleries. In these images, van Empel constructs dense interior still lifes out of images of items from his childhood home. While many of the tokens and mementos have a kitchy quality to them, it is clear that each and every one has been wrapped in some personal significance or memory. Van Empel uses the same computer driven composite approach, and the resulting feeling of unreality of his other works is found in these smaller pictures as well. These pictures jump off the wall quite a bit less than the more vibrant tropical scenes, but perhaps show van Empel experimenting with new narrative directions beyond those which made him famous.

Overall, this is a terrific show, with many eye-popping works to draw your attention, many of the kids seeming even more surreal than in earlier images. There is a catalogue of van Empel's new work entitled Ruud van Empel Photoworks available from the gallery for $50.

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The artist's website can be found here.

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Collector's POV: The World, Venus, Moon and Dawn images in this show range from $14000 to $69000, with most in the $30000 range. The Souvenir series is priced between $9500 and $14000. The prints are in editions of various sizes, ranging from 7 to 13. The two white statues are $47000 each, in editions of 3. Van Empel's work has only been available in the secondary markets since 2007, but has performed well, fetching prices from approximately $15000 to $45000. Given the originality of his work, it seems likely that these prices will continue to rise.

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Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Ruud van Empel: Souvenir, Dawn, Moon, World

Through March 7th

Stefan Stux Gallery

530 West 25th Street

New York, NY 10001

Another review of this show can be found at The Year in Pictures here.

Book: Ruud van Empel, Moon World Venus

JTF (just the facts): Ruud van Empel, Moon World Venus, published in 2006, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Museum Het Valkhom, Nijmegen. 151 pages. In English and Dutch. (World #11, 2005 at right.)

Comments/Context: When I saw this book in a museum bookshop recently, I knew we had to have it for our library. Even though we don't collect portraits, we've been interested in the Dutch artist's work since we were introduced to it a few years ago. His large format portraits really jump off the wall at you, full of saturated color and mystery. When looking back a few decades from now, I think we will think of the 2000s as a time when digital manipulation first came into widespread use and photographers really began to use the new tools to actually rethink the practice of picture making, rather than for quick and cheap visual trickery.

van Empel's work seems to reference and echo the art historial past in interesting ways. It is hard for me to look at his work and not be reminded of both the paintings of Henri Rousseau (see The Dream, 1910, below left) and the photographs of Mike Disfarmer (see Little Blond Girl, below right)

The van Empel potraits are very painterly, with lush, high precision tableaux set behind the figure. And yet the figures themselves are very straightforward. The combination lends the pictures as sense of impossibility, or innocence, or contrast, or an aura of sinister trouble awaiting. They're definitely not boring, and not anything that could have been done before the advent of the new technology.

The monograph has a complete set of all of van Empel's work to date, so the evolution and refinement of his ideas can be seen more clearly.

Collector's POV: I think these images are going to hold up well over time. (Moon #1, 2005 at right.) They can also be paired/contrasted with the work of the German photographer Loretta Lux (her site is here), who is perhaps slightly better known here in the US and riffing on a similar theme. The work of both artists has begun to appear on the secondary market. The value of Lux' work has been strong, consistently running in the $10000-20000 range, with quite a bit of material coming up for sale. There has been less of van Empel's work in the auction market, so I'm not sure where the prices are shaking out, but my impression is that his prices are somewhat higher and rising fast.

Ruud van Empel's artist site is here. He is represented in the US by Stux Gallery.