LA auction weekend...

Los Angeles was host to a couple of very nice contemporary art auctions this past weekend. 1st up was the big SCION auction for their recent traveling exhibit "Installation 4" that hit a host of cities including a stop at last year's Art Basel in Miami, FL. Somewhat of a mellow turnout, and some great deals to be had. The above Soto only went for about $3,500 - a steal. One of the surprises of the show saw the nail bat from Sage Vaughn going for $4,000. Having one of these in our own collection, I have to admit I was super stoked to see that action. Word is one of Sage's paintings went for a huge sum at a recent UK auction and that's got the collectors out in a big way searching out his work. During the Auction Freddi C and I were commenting on how many folks had been contacting each of us in the past few weeks for Sage's work - out of the blue really, so the big auction impact explains all that. He's an amazing talent, so glad to see things taking off for him.

We got in on the action as well and picked up an awesome sculpture from Canadian artist Andrew Pommier (see below). This is our third piece from Andrew and by far our favorite from him. Stands a lil' over 3' tall in person.

Next up was the big Santa Monica Art Auction held over at the Bergamot Station art center. Not a huge turnout for this one either as evidenced by the photos below, but folks were buying, that's for sure. Sadly neither of the amazing Banksy works in the auction met their minimums, which had some commenting... but both works were amazing and had it been a bigger auction and marketed to that scene a bit more, I'm sure both would have had heads turnin'. Regardless, some amazing works from everyone from Warhol to Pettibon to Rushca and more were on view.

One lucky phone-in / on-line bidder got a simply amazing two panel work on canvas from Barry Mc Gee that must have measured over 10' long by 6' high combined for only $7,500 - insane!!! The below Barry McGee piece (a diptych) didn't get its minimum bid of only $9K... a steal for such a huge Barry street piece from back in the day.
All in all a fun day out and we came home with a killer new piece, and all we intended to do was check 'em both out. If you've never been, be sure to check out the next auction over at Bergamot... nice chill atmosphere and it's outside. You can't beat that.