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Week in Review: Basquait Guaranteed Success in Hong Kong, London Gets a Kusama Pumpkin and Lee Ufan Goes Dutch

3 min read  ·  31 May 2024

Yayoi Kusama, digital rendering of Pumpkin (2024). Copyright the artist. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner, via Serpentine Galleries

This week the spotlight shone on Hong Kong where its spring auctions took place, with eye-catching (and guaranteed) sales of works by market darlings, including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Yayoi Kusama, whose Pumpkin is heading to London. But the fireworks were made by market-shy Japanese artist Teppei Takeda. His semi-abstract portrait sold for 800% above estimate, a spectacular auction debut. There was a cloud over London ahead of its Gallery Weekend when Sotheby’s announced deep staff cuts.

1

Hong Kong: A Jean-Michel Basquiat, painting, which backed by a guarantee, sold for $12.63m, leading Phillips $27M sale. HENI News

2

Hong Kong: Teppei Takeda’s work sold for $235,500, more than nine times the low estimate at Phillips, a spectacular auction debut for the low-profile Japanese artist. HENI News

3

Hong Kong: Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1965), which was backed by a guarantee and sold for $8.53m, was the headline sale at Christie’s. HENI News

4

London: A Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin will grace Kensington Gardens this summer presented by the Serpentine Galleries and Royal Parks.

5

Shows: Anne Imhof is taking over all four floors of the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria in a major exhibition.

6

Profile: Fritz Scholder, who is best known for his subversion of Native American stereotypes, has seen a 123% increase in his HENI Score as his works outperform at auction. HENI News

7

Zurich/London: Kiki Kogelnik, the late Austrian Pop artist, is no longer under the radar with a show opening at Pace in London coinciding with a survey show in Switzerland.

And in other news

New York: An unauthorized exhibition called the Banksy Museum has opened in Manhattan.

London: Sotheby’s plans to lay off 50 people in the UK with further job losses expected in New York and the auction house’s European locations.

"‘In Paris there is a lot of stimulation, loneliness, and a language barrier; my imagination spreads its wings.’ Lee Ufan, whose work go on show in the Rijksmuseum gardens this summer, on living between France and Japan."

- Whitewall

“Lee Ufan in the Rijksmuseum Gardens,” photo by Rijksmuseum/Albertine Dijkema, courtesy of Rijksmuseum.