An early surprise on the night was a work by the German born artist Katharina Grosse (Lot 2 ) selling for $30,000, well over the $12,000 - $20,000 pre-sale estimate. The large, non figurative work was painted on aluminium, a popular ground for many contemporary artists nowadays.
Max Gimblett's Quartrefoil painting from 2010 entitled The Silver Chariot (Lot 19 ) sold well reaching the high estimate of $30,000 while Tony de Latour's take on the Nike's "swoosh" and entitled Island (Lot 24 ) sold at the low estimate for $22,000.
One of Andy Warhol's 1971 large format Electric Chair (Lot 36 ) screenprints made its first appearance on the New Zealand market with a tough yellow and blue version framed in black and selling for $14,000, while Andrew McLeod's The Mc Goldie Painting (Lot 56 ), an amalgam of Goldie, Mc Cahon and McLeod achieved a solid $19,500. Combining a number of key themes from our art history, a very emancipated ''McMaori'' points towards land and utters in a classic McCahon speech balloon ''holy shit...look'', reminding one that one of art's almost forgotten functions has always been to generate a soft smile or quiet laugh. This work did just that.
A large and impressive work by Stephen Bambury entitled Forbidden City (Lot 51 ) from 2002 sold for $60,000 after getting away to a slow start, the work going to an Auckland art consultant on the phone in the room.
In complete contrast was a carefully observed and beautifully executed watercolour, Amaryllis (Lot 62 ) by Rita Angus. The work had been purchased by the vendor in 1989. Rita Angus rarely disappoints when her works come on the market, and this small watercolour, although painted in 1944 certainly embodied the ''contemporary spirit'' of the one word title of this auction. Bidding for Amaryllis opened at $16,000, and rose quickly with the work selling for $28,000, which was about mid-estimate.
In past auction sales, Ian Scott's works have achieved mixed results. He painted in a wide range of often disparate styles during his career, and the market continues to view some of his works as "hot" and others not so. But I was taken by surprise when Raquel's Bedroom (Lot 67 ) was presented for sale. Painted early in his short career, it had a pre-sale estimate of $13,000 - $18,000. Bidding opened at $11,000 but it rose to a staggering $31,000 well above the high estimate.
In keeping with the title, the primary subject in the painting, a bikini clad long haired woman leaning against the left hand upright of the picture frame, bore a striking resemblance to the film star Raquel Welch, but out the bedroom window is a classic Ian Scott imagined landscape, featuring snow-capped mountains, and a waterfall mixed with Scott's surreal and rather phallic kauri trees. Perhaps he was trying to ''sell us something'' or perhaps he was trying to ''tell us something''. You can be the judge of that.
Although the sale was small in size it bore some interesting results with a sale total on the night of of just under $1 million, and with after sales and buyer's premium, Art + Object should be able to report a sale total of 1..25 million next week.
All prices quoted are hammer and are expressed in $NZ.
