Bonhams' Contemporary Art auction was led by Helen Frankenthaler's Red Shift in New York yesterday (May 14).
 Red Shift represents the culmination of Frankenthaler's work, created toward the end of her career |
The abstract acrylic on canvas sold for $302,500. Painted in 1990, it is a superb demonstration of Frankenthaler's late style.
Frankenthaler is seen as a crucial artist in the development of American post-war art. In a career spanning six decades, between the early 1950s until her death in 2011, she consistently produced high quality work that always proved as fresh as that of her contemporaries.
"I've explored a variety of directions and themes over the years. But I think in my painting you can see the signature of one artist, the work of one wrist," she is quoted in B Hess' Abstract Expressionism (2006).
Matching the $302,500 sale price was Brazilian artist Sergio Camargo's 1970 work Relief 329, a painted wood construction typical of his signature style.
While classed as a constructivist artist, Camargo's work also explores elements of spatialism and minimalism, ideas pioneered by European artists such as Lucio Fontana and Jean Arp. This influence stems from the fact that Camargo studied with Fontana in Brazil and later with Arp in Paris.
 The Bruce High Quality Foundation is named after fictional artist Bruce High Quality, who supposedly died in the 9/11 attacks |
The third highest bids of the sale were seen by Double Iwo Jima, an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas work produced by The Bruce High Quality Foundation - a New York arts collective whose eight rotating members remain anonymous.
The foundation's chief objective is protest against the "star-making machinery of the art market" and was "created to foster an alternative to everything".
See the results of Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sale last night.
Recent and related articles
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· Gerhard Richter's Domplatz, Mailand beats artist record by 8.5% | 15 May 2013
· Qatari royals purchase Picasso's Child with a Dove for $77m | 14 May 2013
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Images: Bonhams
