Results tagged “basquiat”

Both Sotheby's and Christie's have been suffering lately, either not selling items at auction, or selling them for much less than anticipated. While not everyone is buying, there's plenty of folks selling--even outgoing Lehman Brothers boss Richard Fuld dropped off a collection at Christie's as part of "his own bailout plan." Not all of his pieces went for as much as he'd estimated, as has been the outcome for many sellers as of late. So who is lucking out on the auction block? None other than Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. During these times of economic downturn, The NY Post reports that his 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat, titled "Untitled (Boxer)" went for $13.5 million...about $1.5 million more than expected!

Following in the footsteps of U2 bassist Adam Clayton, Metallica's Lars Ulrich is now set to auction off his Jean-Michel Basquiat. The painting will be on the block at Christie's in New York come November 12th, and the NY Times reports that it "depicts a victorious black boxer, his hands waving in the air, against a richly painted background filled with the artist’s signature graffiti scrawl. The figure is part hero, part warrior, part victim. It is also said to be autobiographical." Ulrich bought the painting in 1999, and it's expected to bring in around $12 million minimum at auction. Of his timing, he said, “Of course it’s an awkward time to sell, but I’ve always been about taking chances." He added: "I have a lot of faith in the art market. It’s perhaps the last frontier where the best of the best will not go the way of the rest of the economy.” [via the Observer]

Recently, legend became reality when a 10-story building in SoHo was being converted to a luxury condo. Unearthed in the walls was a large mural created by graffiti pioneers Fab Five Freddy and Futura 2000.The artwork contains a variety of images and writing executed in spray paint, grease pencil, magic marker and whatever else was on hand — in silver, gold, pink and red. There are cartoonlike pictures of a bomber airplane, images of a...