2018
2018 BANKSY
1
Love is in the Bin
2021 SOLD for £ 18.6M by Sotheby's
Girl with Balloon, stencil painted by Banksy, first appeared in 2002 on a wall in London. Under a strong wind which messes her hair and inflates her skirt, the child has just let go the string of a heart-shaped balloon. A second painting also in London brings the artist's message, "There is always hope", which in some way revisits the traditional theme of the bottle thrown into the sea.
The image is simple and without social aggression and became immediately popular. Banksy often reused it for happenings or other actions to promote his political opinions.
A spray paint and acrylic on canvas 101 x 78 cm was listed by Sotheby's in London in the contemporary art evening sale of October 5, 2018, lot 67. While Oliver Barker's hammer falls for £ 1.04M including premium, the artwork is shredded in the auction room by a mechanism hidden in the 18 cm thick artist's frame.
Banksy authenticated this remote-controlled destruction with a convincing evidence including short films displaying the preparation of the happening. He also stated that the stop of the shredding halfway of the composition was a malfunction. The modified work has been certified by Pest Control with a new title, Love is in the Bin.
The successful bidder appreciated the specific place of her acquisition in the history of art dissidence, beside famous destructive acts by DADA, Rauschenberg, Tinguely or Ai Weiwei. A collusion between Banksy and Sotheby's for this unprecedented event is not credible. It had nevertheless been the last lot of the evening and was exhibited in full visibility during the auction.
Love is in the Bin was sold for £ 18.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on October 14, 2021, lot 7. The frame is still integral with its shredding mechanism which has been decommissioned. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The image is simple and without social aggression and became immediately popular. Banksy often reused it for happenings or other actions to promote his political opinions.
A spray paint and acrylic on canvas 101 x 78 cm was listed by Sotheby's in London in the contemporary art evening sale of October 5, 2018, lot 67. While Oliver Barker's hammer falls for £ 1.04M including premium, the artwork is shredded in the auction room by a mechanism hidden in the 18 cm thick artist's frame.
Banksy authenticated this remote-controlled destruction with a convincing evidence including short films displaying the preparation of the happening. He also stated that the stop of the shredding halfway of the composition was a malfunction. The modified work has been certified by Pest Control with a new title, Love is in the Bin.
The successful bidder appreciated the specific place of her acquisition in the history of art dissidence, beside famous destructive acts by DADA, Rauschenberg, Tinguely or Ai Weiwei. A collusion between Banksy and Sotheby's for this unprecedented event is not credible. It had nevertheless been the last lot of the evening and was exhibited in full visibility during the auction.
Love is in the Bin was sold for £ 18.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on October 14, 2021, lot 7. The frame is still integral with its shredding mechanism which has been decommissioned. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2
Banksquiat
2023 SOLD for $ 9.7M by Phillips
Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump is a large size masterpiece painted in 1982 by Basquiat, 240 x 420 cm. Johnny pump is a New York slang word designating an illegal fire hydrant that enables kids to play in water in the street. Jean-Michel was always keen to use terms that puzzle the WASP.
It features a black skeleton individual with hands raised in celebration in Jean-Michel's signature style, followed by a furious dog in the same pictorial style. They are surrounded by flamboyant colors suggesting a hot summer.
This painting was privately acquired in 2020 by Ken Griffin for a price reported as over $ 100M. Griffin put in on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago.
These raised hands of a Negro individual inspired Banksy who changed it into a hands up gesture. In 2017 in a clandestine visit, he stenciled on a wall of a Basquiat exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London a copy of the boy and dog. The man is flanked by two stenciled cops in stop and search in Banksy's signature style. Although forbidden by their rules, that graffiti was immediately qualified as a piece of art by the Barbican.
Banksy made a copy in 2018 on a gray background. This acrylic and wax marker on wood in three panels 244 x 385 cm overall is titled Banksquiat and subtitled Boy and Dog in Stop and Search. It was sold for $ 9.7M by Phillips on May 17, 2023, lot 13.
It features a black skeleton individual with hands raised in celebration in Jean-Michel's signature style, followed by a furious dog in the same pictorial style. They are surrounded by flamboyant colors suggesting a hot summer.
This painting was privately acquired in 2020 by Ken Griffin for a price reported as over $ 100M. Griffin put in on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago.
These raised hands of a Negro individual inspired Banksy who changed it into a hands up gesture. In 2017 in a clandestine visit, he stenciled on a wall of a Basquiat exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London a copy of the boy and dog. The man is flanked by two stenciled cops in stop and search in Banksy's signature style. Although forbidden by their rules, that graffiti was immediately qualified as a piece of art by the Barbican.
Banksy made a copy in 2018 on a gray background. This acrylic and wax marker on wood in three panels 244 x 385 cm overall is titled Banksquiat and subtitled Boy and Dog in Stop and Search. It was sold for $ 9.7M by Phillips on May 17, 2023, lot 13.
2018 Self Portrait as Vincent van Gogh by GHENIE
1
Degenerate Art
2022 SOLD for HK$ 57M by Christie's
From 2016 Ghenie revisits his beloved Self portrait as Vincent van Gogh in two series titled Degenerate Art and Lidless Eye.
A Degenerate Art painted in 2018 is inspired from Vincent's Self portrait with bandaged ear. Within a magma of bright colors, some details are recognizable such as the beard, the eye or the bandage. It manages to recreate Vincent's despair and physical pain after the failure of Gauguin's stay with him in Arles.
This oil on canvas 180 x 200 cm was sold for HK $ 57M from a lower estimate of HK $ 48M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 29.
A Degenerate Art painted in 2018 is inspired from Vincent's Self portrait with bandaged ear. Within a magma of bright colors, some details are recognizable such as the beard, the eye or the bandage. It manages to recreate Vincent's despair and physical pain after the failure of Gauguin's stay with him in Arles.
This oil on canvas 180 x 200 cm was sold for HK $ 57M from a lower estimate of HK $ 48M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 29.
2
Lidless Eye
2020 SOLD for HK $ 55M by Sotheby's
A Lidless Eye dated 2016-2018 on the reverse, oil on canvas 180 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 55M from a lower estimate of HK $ 42M by Sotheby's on October 6, 2020, lot 1123.
A Lidless Eye dated 2016-2019 on the reverse, oil on canvas 185 x 170 cm, was sold for HK $ 43M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 92.
Both are based on the same original self portrait whose 2016 reinterpretation in the Degenerate Art series was sold for $ 9.3M by Sotheby's in 2022.
A Lidless Eye dated 2016-2019 on the reverse, oil on canvas 185 x 170 cm, was sold for HK $ 43M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 92.
Both are based on the same original self portrait whose 2016 reinterpretation in the Degenerate Art series was sold for $ 9.3M by Sotheby's in 2022.
2018 Speak, Birdman by Bradford
2018 SOLD for $ 6.8M by Sotheby's
Mark Bradford had a long exhibition history with the Studio Museum in Harlem, beginning in 2001 in the period of his use of papers collected in the hairdressing salon.
A signature unlimited city map was prepared in 2018 and sold at Sotheby's by courtesy of the artist and of Hauser and Wirth to benefit the project of a new building of the Studio Museum. It fetched $ 6.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2M on May 16, 2018, lot 1.
The title, Speak, Birdman, refers to the vertical view of a city by a flying bird with an additional idea of intelligence.
A signature unlimited city map was prepared in 2018 and sold at Sotheby's by courtesy of the artist and of Hauser and Wirth to benefit the project of a new building of the Studio Museum. It fetched $ 6.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2M on May 16, 2018, lot 1.
The title, Speak, Birdman, refers to the vertical view of a city by a flying bird with an additional idea of intelligence.
2018 Vulcain the Apatosaur
2024 SOLD for € 6.1M by Barbarossa in association with Collin du Bocage
During the Jurassic around 155 million years ago, the quadruped herbivore sauropods were facing the allosaurus and other theropods in the muddy lands of current day Wyoming. Their giant size may have discouraged the predators. The neck and the stabilizing tail are extremely long, allowing these dinosaurs to feed on grasses or leaves as they fancied.
A pioneer paleontologist in the USA, Othniel Charles Marsh established a classification of the dinosaurs. Between 1872 and 1891, he named 32 genera including allosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops.
Amidst the giant sauropods of the Late Jurassic, he described the apatosaurus in 1877, the diplodocus in 1878 and the brontosaurus in 1879.
Brontosaur became highly popular amidst the dinosaur fans. Nevertheless it is now considered by scientists as a synonym of the apatosaur. The latter name having been introduced earlier in Marsh's classification is considered as scientifically correct.
The fossil skeleton of an apatosaur-like diplocid was found in Wyoming in 2018. Prepared in France, this specimen is 20.50 m long and keeps nearly 80 % of its bones including a 50 % preserved head. Named Vulcain, it was sold for € 6.1M from a lower estimate of € 3M on November 16, 2024 by Barbarossa in association with Collin du Bocage, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by Maxime Champion.
The estimated life characteristics of Vulcain are 45 years old and a weight of about 20 tons. A large protuberance wound with the fusion of five vertebrae on the tail had certainly been made by the fangs of a predator.
Vulcain does not fully match the features of the three species of an apatosaurus, so that it may tentatively be used to define a fourth species.
A pioneer paleontologist in the USA, Othniel Charles Marsh established a classification of the dinosaurs. Between 1872 and 1891, he named 32 genera including allosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops.
Amidst the giant sauropods of the Late Jurassic, he described the apatosaurus in 1877, the diplodocus in 1878 and the brontosaurus in 1879.
Brontosaur became highly popular amidst the dinosaur fans. Nevertheless it is now considered by scientists as a synonym of the apatosaur. The latter name having been introduced earlier in Marsh's classification is considered as scientifically correct.
The fossil skeleton of an apatosaur-like diplocid was found in Wyoming in 2018. Prepared in France, this specimen is 20.50 m long and keeps nearly 80 % of its bones including a 50 % preserved head. Named Vulcain, it was sold for € 6.1M from a lower estimate of € 3M on November 16, 2024 by Barbarossa in association with Collin du Bocage, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by Maxime Champion.
The estimated life characteristics of Vulcain are 45 years old and a weight of about 20 tons. A large protuberance wound with the fusion of five vertebrae on the tail had certainly been made by the fangs of a predator.
Vulcain does not fully match the features of the three species of an apatosaurus, so that it may tentatively be used to define a fourth species.
Vulcain, le plus grand squelette de dinosaure jamais vendu aux enchères, adjugé pour 6 millions d'euroshttps://t.co/zKy95iD1ow pic.twitter.com/LVfwYItJPf
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) November 16, 2024
2018 Gorgosaur
2022 SOLD for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's
Gorgosaurus, the dreadful lizard, is a genus of the Tyrannosaurid family. It lived in the late Cretaceous around 77 million years ago, 10 million years before the T. Rex, in the same marshy shores of an inland sea that divided the current time North America. About 20 specimens are known, to be compared with the more than 50 T. Rex.
Both bipedal beasts look very similar. Slightly smaller, Gorgosaurus had the more powerful biting force and muscular legs that enabled a more speedy run balanced by its long tail.
The incomplete fossil skeleton of a gorgosaurus was excavated in Montana in 2018. It has 79 elements, the rest of it being replaced by casts for its exhibition mounting. The left side of the skull is the best preserved with its maxilla and its three bones that compose the rounded orbit. The axial skeleton is also well preserved from cervical to caudal.
This prepared specimen is 2.80 m high and 6.70 m long. The dimension of the skull is 98 x 67 x 43 cm.
This fossil was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2022, lot 201.
Both bipedal beasts look very similar. Slightly smaller, Gorgosaurus had the more powerful biting force and muscular legs that enabled a more speedy run balanced by its long tail.
The incomplete fossil skeleton of a gorgosaurus was excavated in Montana in 2018. It has 79 elements, the rest of it being replaced by casts for its exhibition mounting. The left side of the skull is the best preserved with its maxilla and its three bones that compose the rounded orbit. The axial skeleton is also well preserved from cervical to caudal.
This prepared specimen is 2.80 m high and 6.70 m long. The dimension of the skull is 98 x 67 x 43 cm.
This fossil was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2022, lot 201.
Unlike most dinosaur specimens that have come to market before, the buyer of this Gorgosaurus will also get to name it! pic.twitter.com/VcjbV7ugc3
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 20, 2022
□ Un squelette de Gorgosaurus découvert en 2018 dans le Montana va être mis en vente chez Sotheby's, le premier du genre à être disponible aux enchères ⤵️
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 6, 2022
□ @DDesobeau #AFP #AFPTV pic.twitter.com/KBikWxDsbU
2018 After Embah by Brice
2025 SOLD for £ 5.4M by Sotheby's
A native of Cape Town established in London, Lisa Brice spent much time in Trinidad where she set up a group of artists beside Chris Ofili and Peter Doig. Trinidad has a special reputation for its racial tolerance, its vibrant music scene and the stubborn independence of its people. One of the features of the carnival is the women painted in blue in a guise of revellers or evils.
The trio managed a close friendship with a charismatic local artist, poet and musician from the previous generation who used the artist's name Embah, both the first syllables of his first and family names and a foreign (Indonesian) name meaning 'grandpa'.
Embah died in 2015, aged 78.
After Embah was painted in 2018 by Brice as a tribute for her lost beloved living treasure. Four women are staged on a dancing floor, two of them dancing and the other attending while drinking beers. The major character, a blonde in undergarments and rudimentary slippers, may be a self portrait. Her dancing fellow girl is dark blue with a dark red bare breast. A wild cat with arched back completes the group in the foreground.
This synthetic tempera, gesso and ink on canvas 244 x 205 cm painted in 2018 was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 1M by Sotheby's on March 4, 2025, lot 8.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Mar 4
#AuctionRecord: Lisa Brice's 'After Embah' sells for £5.4M, more than 5X its estimate and setting an auction record for the artist. #SothebysContemporary
The trio managed a close friendship with a charismatic local artist, poet and musician from the previous generation who used the artist's name Embah, both the first syllables of his first and family names and a foreign (Indonesian) name meaning 'grandpa'.
Embah died in 2015, aged 78.
After Embah was painted in 2018 by Brice as a tribute for her lost beloved living treasure. Four women are staged on a dancing floor, two of them dancing and the other attending while drinking beers. The major character, a blonde in undergarments and rudimentary slippers, may be a self portrait. Her dancing fellow girl is dark blue with a dark red bare breast. A wild cat with arched back completes the group in the foreground.
This synthetic tempera, gesso and ink on canvas 244 x 205 cm painted in 2018 was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 1M by Sotheby's on March 4, 2025, lot 8.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Mar 4
#AuctionRecord: Lisa Brice's 'After Embah' sells for £5.4M, more than 5X its estimate and setting an auction record for the artist. #SothebysContemporary
- The painting "After Embah" by Lisa Brice, sold for £5.4M at Sotheby's in March 2025, reflects her innovative use of cobalt blue to reframe the female nude, challenging centuries of male-dominated art history as noted in a 2023 Tate Britain exhibition analysis.
- This record-breaking sale, exceeding its estimate by over five times, aligns with a 2024 Art Basel report showing a 12% annual increase in demand for contemporary female artists, suggesting a shift in market trends backed by Sotheby's auction data.
- Brice’s work draws on Caribbean cultural influences, reimagining classics like Millais's "Ophelia," a technique supported by a 2021 study in the Journal of Art History on how postcolonial art reshapes Western narratives.
2018 WONG
Intro
A self taught painter after a training in photography, Matthew Wong looked for an influence from global art history caught by him on the internet.
His paintings expressed his dreamlike world. His signature style is made of sumptuous dotted textures in shimmering impasto, with a keen use of complementary colors.
A reclusive who was suffering of depression and of autism worsened by the tourette syndrome, Wong committed suicide in 2019 when international praise was coming. The Chinese-Canadian was established in Edmonton.
His paintings expressed his dreamlike world. His signature style is made of sumptuous dotted textures in shimmering impasto, with a keen use of complementary colors.
A reclusive who was suffering of depression and of autism worsened by the tourette syndrome, Wong committed suicide in 2019 when international praise was coming. The Chinese-Canadian was established in Edmonton.
1
River at Dusk
2020 SOLD for HK$ 38M by Phillips in association with Poly
Shangri-La, oil on canvas 244 x 183 cm painted by Matthew Wong in 2017, was sold for $ 4.5M by Christie's on October 5, 2020, lot 106. Evoking a namesake promised utopia, this opus brings the bright colors of modern art to the classic shape of mountains in ancient Chinese art.
River at Dusk, oil on canvas 203 x 178 cm painted by Wong in 2018, was sold for HK $ 38M from a lower estimate of HK $ 7M by Phillips in association with Poly on December 3, 2020, lot 4. It features a romantic riverscape below a dark orange sky.
River at Dusk, oil on canvas 203 x 178 cm painted by Wong in 2018, was sold for HK $ 38M from a lower estimate of HK $ 7M by Phillips in association with Poly on December 3, 2020, lot 4. It features a romantic riverscape below a dark orange sky.
2
The Road
2023 SOLD for HK $ 36M by Phillips
The Road, oil on canvas 178 x 152 cm painted by Wong in 2018, was sold for HK $ 36M from a lower estimate of HK $ 24M by Phillips on March 30, 2023, lot 8.
Figure in a night landscape, painted by Matthew Wong in 2017, was one of his earliest enchanting penumbra scapes. This artwork is very rich in texture, featuring the pale light of a moon out of view on a layer of decomposing leaves and branches. In that emotional birch wood, a tiny lonesome human figure in red hood is centered at mid-distance.
This oil on canvas 122 x 183 cm was sold for HK $ 36.6M by Phillips on June 8, 2021, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 2018 further night scenes were more focused on the midnight blue. Night 1, oil on canvas 178 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 4.2M by Christie's on November 7, 2023, lot 7A. Night 2, 152 x 152 cm, was sold for HK$ 30M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 62.
Figure in a night landscape, painted by Matthew Wong in 2017, was one of his earliest enchanting penumbra scapes. This artwork is very rich in texture, featuring the pale light of a moon out of view on a layer of decomposing leaves and branches. In that emotional birch wood, a tiny lonesome human figure in red hood is centered at mid-distance.
This oil on canvas 122 x 183 cm was sold for HK $ 36.6M by Phillips on June 8, 2021, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 2018 further night scenes were more focused on the midnight blue. Night 1, oil on canvas 178 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 4.2M by Christie's on November 7, 2023, lot 7A. Night 2, 152 x 152 cm, was sold for HK$ 30M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 62.
