Displaying items by tag: Adam Sender

Auction houses expect to sell as much as $2.3 billion of art in New York this month as billionaires from China to Brazil compete for trophy works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Jeff Koons in a surging market.

Two weeks of semiannual sales of Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s, Sotheby’s (BID) and Phillips begin May 6, with online bidding as early as today. Their combined sales target represents a 77 percent increase from estimates for a similar round of auctions a year ago.

After closing his firm Exis Capital Management Inc., hedge-fund manager Adam Sender announced that he will sell nearly half of his contemporary art collection at Sotheby’s. Since 1998, with guidance from New York-based art adviser Todd Levin and various Chelsea gallerists, Sender has amassed a collection of approximately 800 works by 139 artists.

Over the course of 18 months, Sotheby’s will sell about 400 works from Sender’s collection, including pieces by Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, John Baldessari and Dan Flavin. The collection is expected to fetch over $70 million.

The first selection of works from Sender’s collection will be offered on May 14 at Sotheby’s important evening sale of contemporary art.

Hedge-fund manager Adam Sender’s curator made her way through the mega-souk on the Hudson that is New York’s Armory Show Wednesday and stopped at the Untitled booth for Andrew Hahn.

“I think everyone is in love with these,” said Sarah Aibel.

She and London collector Anita Zabludowicz were among those who picked up his silk-screens which riff on the art world.

One piece, in black and white, depicts a man at a counter with a caption that reads, “This is the art dealer. He sells the things that are good for you.”

They cost $2,000 per silk-screen. The gallery has 60 of them and sold 55 on the first day.

Also browsing through the 274 galleries from 31 countries were Lightyear Capital LLC chairman, Don B. Marron, oil trader Andrew Hall, Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos and Warren Eisenberg, co-chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY)

Lower-priced works by younger artists sold briskly. And keep in mind that the offering price often gets bargained down by collectors with clout.

Los Angeles-based dealer David Kordansky placed three vibrant Primitivist paintings by West Coast artist Ruby Neri, with prices ranging from $14,000 to $18,000.

Gilbert and George

Blue-chip galleries with affordable works by established artists also did well.

By 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Lehmann Maupin gallery had sold half of the 52 artworks by British conceptual duo Gilbert and George. They consist of 13 postcards of London’s tourist and sex attractions. Each was offered at 17,000 pounds ($27,667).

“With $60,000 and under there is a comfort level in pulling the trigger,” said New York dealer Marianne Boesky, who sold paintings and sculptures in that range by artists Rachel Feinstein, Diana Al-Hadid and Hans Op de Beeck.