Saturday, November 13, 2010

$42.6 Million? Ohhh, Alright Then...

Roy Lichtenstein's cartoon-style pop art painting "Ohhh...Alright" sold this week for a record price at Christie's NY: US$42.6 million!
The 1964 painting of a pouting redhead on the phone smashed a previous best for the artist set in 2005, when his work "In the Car" fetched $16.2 million.
Also this week, an Andy Warhol canvas of a black-and-white Coke bottle sold for US$35.4 million, far surpassing its estimate of $25 million, while his "Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable)" returned a more modest US$23.9 million.
The sale capped a week of contemporary and post-war art auctions in NY that defied expectations by bringing in high prices. They say the art market has come back with real strength: I'd say those with big wads of disposable cash are just being plain stupid.
$42.6 million for something a first-year art student could produce...? Money obviously doesn't buy intelligence.

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