20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

The afternoon session of the 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, presented by Phillips, brings to auction over 100 fine art pieces. Featured among these lots is a painting from Damien Hirst’s Spin series, inspired by psychedelic imagery. Hirst creates these works by throwing paint at a canvas attached to a rapid-spinning device. The Flaming Lips, the American rock band who Hirst named this particular Spin painting after, even visited the artist’s studio to create their own painting in this style.

Contemporary art collectors can also consider Sterling Ruby’s spray-painted piece, SP188. “My work evolved from looking at graffiti, vandalism, the violence of tags in the streets, and other forms of visual aggression,” Ruby told L’Officiel Art in an interview. Also available are two smiling sculptures by Yue Minjun. Although the Beijing artist’s smiling self-portraits are often compared to Surrealist works, Yue believes them to be a more grounded effort to understand the world around him. These two particular sculptures were produced in 2003 and are numbered 15 and 16 of a 25-work edition. Those interested in this or any other piece can register to bid on Phillips’ website.