2000
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Japan Sculpture Koons Hirst Animals Photo
See also : Japan Sculpture Koons Hirst Animals Photo
2000 Celebrations by KOONS
Intro
The series of Celebrations conceived by Jeff Koons in 1994 is made of about 26 themes, each sub-series being made in five versions of different colors. They have become the most recognizable works of contemporary art.
The sizes are monumental. When a Celebration is exhibited, it is impossible to ignore it. The themes are simple and symbolic enough to be understood anywhere in the world regardless of the culture of the visitor.
Celebrations are made in chromium plated stainless steel covered with a transparent colored coating, a process specially developed to offer an intense reflectivity in a perfect smoothness of all the curves. This finish of pure color interacts with the environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection.
The monochrome subjects, arguably less difficult to realize, were the first to be completed, in 1999 and 2000. They include the diamond, hanging heart, balloon flower and balloon dog.
The sizes are monumental. When a Celebration is exhibited, it is impossible to ignore it. The themes are simple and symbolic enough to be understood anywhere in the world regardless of the culture of the visitor.
Celebrations are made in chromium plated stainless steel covered with a transparent colored coating, a process specially developed to offer an intense reflectivity in a perfect smoothness of all the curves. This finish of pure color interacts with the environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection.
The monochrome subjects, arguably less difficult to realize, were the first to be completed, in 1999 and 2000. They include the diamond, hanging heart, balloon flower and balloon dog.
1
Balloon Dog (Orange)
2013 SOLD for $ 58M by Christie's
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) was sold for $ 58M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Christie's on November 12, 2013. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000. Please watch the video shared by the auction house
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) was sold for $ 58M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Christie's on November 12, 2013. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000. Please watch the video shared by the auction house
2
Balloon Flower (Magenta)
2008 SOLD for £ 12.9M by Christie's
Jeff Koons loves flowers. Accordingly, the artist expressed this view in 2003: "I have always enjoyed flowers." He also manages that his works display symbolic forms unequivocally recognizable by fans of all countries.
On June 30, 2008, Christie's sold for £ 12.9M the Balloon Flower (Magenta), dated 1995-2000, of towering dimensions (340 x 285 x 260 cm), lot 12. The photo in the catalog shows this cumbersome thing simply laying on water in a park.
One of the earliest completed opuses was the Balloon Flower (Blue), supplied as early as 1999 to an artistic foundation managed by Daimler. It was sold for $ 17M on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
On June 30, 2008, Christie's sold for £ 12.9M the Balloon Flower (Magenta), dated 1995-2000, of towering dimensions (340 x 285 x 260 cm), lot 12. The photo in the catalog shows this cumbersome thing simply laying on water in a park.
One of the earliest completed opuses was the Balloon Flower (Blue), supplied as early as 1999 to an artistic foundation managed by Daimler. It was sold for $ 17M on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
2000 Girls by Yoshitomo NARA
1
Knife behind Back
2019 SOLD for HK$ 196M by Sotheby's
2000 is the transition year in the life and career of Yoshitomo Nara who returns to Japan after twelve years in Germany. He did not originally want his art to be political. Yet it was in that year, inspired by his recent visit at Auschwitz. He now considers that his characters can raise their voices to demand that all wars be avoided.
The children of that era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. They feel concerned and do not appreciate how much they are fragile, but they are not dangerous.
The titles in the 2000 series of large size acrylic on canvas transcribe this imaginary fate facing these crazy wars operated by the adults : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, Missing in Action, The Little ambassador.
By chance this Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. Tiny details change completely the meaning of a figure. This trend associated with the expression of a revolt powerfully increases two decades later the power of the 2000 Nara girl.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 196M on October 6, 2019 by Sotheby's, lot 1142.
The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea which was only latent in the smaller Frog Girl, painted in Germany in 1998, where the child had exactly the same attitude in a left-right reverse position. In Knife, the dress has become an aggressive deep red and the mouth is resolutely hostile.
The character will soon lose her aggressiveness and smile friendly again. Featured in a flesh colored dress, Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017, lot 420.
The children of that era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. They feel concerned and do not appreciate how much they are fragile, but they are not dangerous.
The titles in the 2000 series of large size acrylic on canvas transcribe this imaginary fate facing these crazy wars operated by the adults : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, Missing in Action, The Little ambassador.
By chance this Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. Tiny details change completely the meaning of a figure. This trend associated with the expression of a revolt powerfully increases two decades later the power of the 2000 Nara girl.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 196M on October 6, 2019 by Sotheby's, lot 1142.
The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea which was only latent in the smaller Frog Girl, painted in Germany in 1998, where the child had exactly the same attitude in a left-right reverse position. In Knife, the dress has become an aggressive deep red and the mouth is resolutely hostile.
The character will soon lose her aggressiveness and smile friendly again. Featured in a flesh colored dress, Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017, lot 420.
2
Missing in Action
2021 SOLD for HK$ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly
On May 28, 2017, Phillips sold at lot 11 for HK $ 21.7M the portrait of a little girl whose dual title is unambiguous in its condemnation of war : Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier.
On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
Last Warrior has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Rightly titled The Little Ambassador, this acrylic on canvas 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1040.
The wording Missing in Action has the same dramatic meaning as the Last Warrior. Painted in the same style also on 2000, this acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm was sold for £ 2M by Phillips on October 14, 2015, lot 9, and for HK $ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly on June 8, 2021, lot 17.
On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
Last Warrior has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Rightly titled The Little Ambassador, this acrylic on canvas 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1040.
The wording Missing in Action has the same dramatic meaning as the Last Warrior. Painted in the same style also on 2000, this acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm was sold for £ 2M by Phillips on October 14, 2015, lot 9, and for HK $ 124M by Phillips in association with Poly on June 8, 2021, lot 17.
2000 HOCKNEY
1
Guest House Garden
2021 SOLD for £ 6M by Christie's
The Guest House is in its wording an invite to socializing. In 2000 David Hockney executes a Guest House subseries of his domestic landscapes. The bright colors provide a new sense of intimacy to the trivial details of a garden, flattened on the canvas in a deliberate absence of perspective.
Painted in London in the summer 2000, Guest House Wall features the saturated pattern of the red bricks of the garden's wall, behind a variety of trees. This oil on canvas 92 x 122 cm was sold for £ 2.17M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2016, lot 15.
In the Guest House Garden painted in Los Angeles in November 2000, the artist goes further away from a reality with its flamboyant colors in loose brushstrokes : red and pink house walls, dark blue roofs and orange or blue tree trunks. This 152 x 193 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 6M by Christie's on October 15, 2021, lot 11.
Painted in London in the summer 2000, Guest House Wall features the saturated pattern of the red bricks of the garden's wall, behind a variety of trees. This oil on canvas 92 x 122 cm was sold for £ 2.17M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2016, lot 15.
In the Guest House Garden painted in Los Angeles in November 2000, the artist goes further away from a reality with its flamboyant colors in loose brushstrokes : red and pink house walls, dark blue roofs and orange or blue tree trunks. This 152 x 193 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 6M by Christie's on October 15, 2021, lot 11.
2
The Gate
2016 SOLD for $ 7M by Phillips
A domestic landscape could hardly be an exciting theme for a painter. For David Hockney in 2000, it was nevertheless a great theme to display the most stunning colors. Such a picture got rid of the reality, in opposition to the exaggerated sun bathed colors of the Fauvistes.
The flattened perspective of these large scale dense compositions embeds the viewer in the scenery, adding somehow its figuration to the visual effect of the abstract expressionism. It is no coincidence that the artist also worked on stage sets in the same period.
The Gate, oil on canvas 152 x 193 cm, was sold for $ 7M by Phillips on November 16, 2016, lot 12. The view is inspired from the native Yorkshire of the artist.
The flattened perspective of these large scale dense compositions embeds the viewer in the scenery, adding somehow its figuration to the visual effect of the abstract expressionism. It is no coincidence that the artist also worked on stage sets in the same period.
The Gate, oil on canvas 152 x 193 cm, was sold for $ 7M by Phillips on November 16, 2016, lot 12. The view is inspired from the native Yorkshire of the artist.
2000 Basketball by Hammons
2013 SOLD for $ 8M by Phillips
David Hammons was a student at the time of the struggles that culminated in 1968 with the prohibition of racial discrimination in the United States. He will forever be a social activist.
He provides his artistic message by assembling various objects ranging from foil to trash. He does not accept the established bourgeois system of art galleries, preferring the street and not hesitating to provoke happenings.
Basketball is one of his recurring themes. He hates basketball because it seems to offer to the teenagers an outlet to fame and wealth that, for almost all of them, is only an illusion.
In 2000, Hammons executed three assemblies where the basketball panel is reused as a support for a suite of chandeliers, a luxury furnishing out of our time and socially incongruous.
One of these assemblies of fake luxury, 196 x 221 x 64 cm, illuminated by light bulbs within the chandeliers, was sold for $ 8M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Phillips on November 8, 2013.
He provides his artistic message by assembling various objects ranging from foil to trash. He does not accept the established bourgeois system of art galleries, preferring the street and not hesitating to provoke happenings.
Basketball is one of his recurring themes. He hates basketball because it seems to offer to the teenagers an outlet to fame and wealth that, for almost all of them, is only an illusion.
In 2000, Hammons executed three assemblies where the basketball panel is reused as a support for a suite of chandeliers, a luxury furnishing out of our time and socially incongruous.
One of these assemblies of fake luxury, 196 x 221 x 64 cm, illuminated by light bulbs within the chandeliers, was sold for $ 8M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Phillips on November 8, 2013.
2000 The Void by Hirst
2017 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Phillips
During his studies Damien Hirst works temporarily in a mortuary. He is shocked by the transition between life and death. As an artist he paradoxically devotes his work to this phenomenon which he does not understand. The titles of his artworks insinuate around this theme.
The drug accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have think for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18, 2017, Phillips sold for $ 5.9M one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8. Made in 2000, it is gigantic: 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void.
The drug accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have think for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18, 2017, Phillips sold for $ 5.9M one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8. Made in 2000, it is gigantic: 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void.
2000 Untitled by Agnes Martin
2015 SOLD for £ 2.84M by Sotheby's
Influenced by Zen, Agnes Martin finds joy in the contemplation of the desert in Taos. She shares it through her paintings made of grids of equidistant lines. The surface appearance, plain but not strictly monochrome, expresses her vision of the dune, the beach or the mountain. She wraps the viewer in her art and readily admits that her work belongs to abstract expressionism.
Agnes Martin restarted her work in her later life with another pattern. The canvas is prepared with a gesso that will bring the luminosity. The horizontal bands drawn freehand with pencil are replacing the grid and define alternative areas of diaphanous colors, mostly pink and blue.
It is a rare case of an artist who was able to go up to the ultimate in her search and expression of happiness. Although her technique is different, she is close to the art of Gaitonde who had himself been influenced by Rothko.
The titles now express feelings. Loving love, 152 x 152 cm, painted in Taos in 2000 when the artist was 88 years old, was sold for £ 2.1M by Christie's on July 1, 2014. The stripes are of uniform width, except that the two central ones are blue, accentuating the impression of symmetry.
An untitled work made in the same year or maybe the year before in the same format was sold for £ 2.84M by Sotheby's on October 15, 2015, lot 7. The pink stripes are twice wider than the blue. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Agnes Martin restarted her work in her later life with another pattern. The canvas is prepared with a gesso that will bring the luminosity. The horizontal bands drawn freehand with pencil are replacing the grid and define alternative areas of diaphanous colors, mostly pink and blue.
It is a rare case of an artist who was able to go up to the ultimate in her search and expression of happiness. Although her technique is different, she is close to the art of Gaitonde who had himself been influenced by Rothko.
The titles now express feelings. Loving love, 152 x 152 cm, painted in Taos in 2000 when the artist was 88 years old, was sold for £ 2.1M by Christie's on July 1, 2014. The stripes are of uniform width, except that the two central ones are blue, accentuating the impression of symmetry.
An untitled work made in the same year or maybe the year before in the same format was sold for £ 2.84M by Sotheby's on October 15, 2015, lot 7. The pink stripes are twice wider than the blue. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2000 Cowboy by Richard Prince
2016 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Christie's
Around 1981, Richard Prince sees the Marlboro Man in all magazines. The cowboy wandering with cattle in the endless deserts of the Wild West was a good choice for an advertising campaign as the mirror of a romantic American masculinity enhanced by the Hollywood glamor.
When Marlboro give up this decade long advertisement campaign due to the antismoking virulence, Prince goes on. In 1992 he begins publishing his cowboys in Cibachrome or Ektacolor color prints in very large size usually limited to two prints plus an artist's proof. Around 2000 the preparation of the images by digital techniques enables new artistic possibilities.
Prince appropriates the best color photographs of cowboys, whether or not already used by Marlboro. What matters is to display the beautiful picture of a typical cowboy with his Stetson, vest and spurs.
When the characters and their horses are busy in their signature occupations, the image is highly appealing. A composite group of five silhouettes preparing their day in the shadow of a bright orange sunrise has become such a popular image.
This Untitled (Cowboy) was edited in 2000 in two copies and one artist's proof in Ektacolor 122 x 195 cm. The artist's proof was sold by Christie's on May 10, 2016 for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 57 B.
The Ektacolor print numbered 1/2 was sold by Sotheby's on May 13, 2014 for $ 3.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M, lot 3.
When Marlboro give up this decade long advertisement campaign due to the antismoking virulence, Prince goes on. In 1992 he begins publishing his cowboys in Cibachrome or Ektacolor color prints in very large size usually limited to two prints plus an artist's proof. Around 2000 the preparation of the images by digital techniques enables new artistic possibilities.
Prince appropriates the best color photographs of cowboys, whether or not already used by Marlboro. What matters is to display the beautiful picture of a typical cowboy with his Stetson, vest and spurs.
When the characters and their horses are busy in their signature occupations, the image is highly appealing. A composite group of five silhouettes preparing their day in the shadow of a bright orange sunrise has become such a popular image.
This Untitled (Cowboy) was edited in 2000 in two copies and one artist's proof in Ektacolor 122 x 195 cm. The artist's proof was sold by Christie's on May 10, 2016 for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 57 B.
The Ektacolor print numbered 1/2 was sold by Sotheby's on May 13, 2014 for $ 3.1M from a lower estimate of $ 1M, lot 3.
