Amoeblog

Big Night for Andy Warhol!

200 One Dollar Bills sells for 43.8 million One Dollar Bills

Well somebody out there has money to burn ... shit, crisis what financial crisis? The pathetic and mostly lifeless contemporary art market was suddenly re-animated on Wednesday at Sotheby's New York when a silk-screen painting by Andy Warhol, produced in 1962, sold for a $43.8 million, the second highest price ever for a Warhol piece. (In 2007 his painting, Green car Crash (Green Burning Car 1), sold for a mind blowing $71.7 million.) The amazing thing about all this is that the pre-auction estimate of for the silk-screen was expected to pull in only about $8 - $12 million.
 
Sotheby's contemporary art auction as a whole sold $222.8 million worth of art, more than doubling the auction house's high estimate of about $98 million in sales.  
 
The bidding for the piece 200 One Dollar Bills opened at $6 million, but instantly doubled with the very first bid from the floor – those in the biz called it “an unusually aggressive move;” I call it just weird, ego driven conspicuous consumption. Five more bidders joined in the battle before an anonymous buyer won the painting via telephone bid.
 
Described as a "hugely important work for American art history," its one of Warhol’s earliest silk-screens. The 80¼ x 92¼ inches canvas comprises of 200 $1 bills reproduced in black and gray with a blue treasury seal. The painting's anonymous seller bought the piece back in 1986 for $385,000. Nice profit!

Posted by Whitmore on November 12, 2009 at 10:07pm | Comments (2)

Yoko Ono Unveils New Mural

for World Autism Awareness Day

This past week Yoko Ono unveiled her new mural entitled Promise and plans for it to be auctioned off for the charity Autism Speaks. The installation depicts clouds against a clear blue sky and presently stands in the lobby at the United Nations building in New York.

The 76-year-old Japanese-born artist, musician and widow of John Lennon divided the seven-foot tall mural into 67 jigsaw-like pieces. Each piece will be signed by the artist and is being auctioned at www.charitybuzz.com/yoko; the starting bid for each section is $1,000. The 67 pieces represent the approximately 67 million people who have autism world wide. When the piece was unveiled on Wednesday, two pieces were already missing.

Autism Speaks said this UN event was one of more than 100 that took place in 35 different countries to mark the second annual World Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd, one of only three issues recognized by the United Nations with a dedicated day. The other days are for AIDS and diabetes.

Yoko Ono hopes that all 67 pieces will be reunited once a cure for autism is discovered.

Posted by Whitmore on April 4, 2009 at 11:39am | Comments (1)

Amoeba Hollywood’s Auction this Saturday

Saturday, March 1st at 4:00PM


This Saturday is the first Saturday of the month and therefore, it is time once again for Amoeba Hollywood’s Auction, hosted by the inimitable Brently Heilbron.

Amoeba Auctions started as an on-going event to help raise money for the Gulf Coast Relief Efforts. Our auctions have included every conceivable kind of memorabilia from the entertainment world and beyond. Collectibles, promotional items, concert tickets, tour jackets, t-shirts, celebrity underwear, puzzles, toys and all kinds of swag that can make your heart go pitter-pat, have been won. And on top of that, Amoeba matches all individual donations and winning bids up to $1,000. Everybody is a winner!

There will of course be many interesting items to bid on this week, but we have one very special item to auction: An autographed copy of the classic comedy album, Weird Al Yankovic In 3-D.

Weird Al Yankovic was spotted in the Amoeba mezzanine perusing DVDs by yours truly. I mentioned it casually to Brently, who sprinted off as only a former track star and Texas State Champion can do, and I have to say Brently accosted Mr. Yankovic in the most courteous and polite manner I’ve ever seen. Weird Al gladly autographed the record even as we twisted one of his arms behind his back. Actually, he was incredibly gracious and happy to sign an album for the Amoeba Auction, personalizing it, “To the lucky highest bidder.” That can be you! Yes, you sitting at your computer! So come on down this Saturday March 1st @ 4PM. It's not everyday you get to bid on a rare chunk of vinyl, actually autographed by the artist as they shopped in Amoeba while at the same time helping the ongoing relief efforts for the Gulf Coast. Thanks, good luck and happy bidding.

Posted by Whitmore on February 29, 2008 at 08:57pm | Post a Comment