NEW YORK – 13 FEBRUARY 2025 – Phillips is pleased to announce highlights from its New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art auction taking place 28 February at its New York headquarters. Comprised of more than 200 lots, the sale features top lots by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jonas Wood, Keith Haring, and George Condo. The sale exhibition will be on view from 22 - 27 February at 432 Park Avenue, New York.

Avery Semjen, Specialist, Head of New Now, New York, said “We are thrilled to present the first Modern & Contemporary Art sale of the 2025 season with the highest pre-sale estimate of any New Now sale in company history. This exceptional offering features a diverse range of works from some of the most influential blue chip artists of the 20th century.  In addition to these high-profile works, we are excited to offer a large selection of middle-market pieces that provide excellent opportunities for both seasoned collectors and burgeoning enthusiasts seeking to add to or begin building out their collections.

The sale is led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Feng Yao from 1983. Executed just a year before Basquiat became the youngest artist ever included in the Whitney Biennale, Feng Yao exemplifies the artist’s fusion of his distinctive visual symbols and textual elements. Measuring five feet in height and width, the work centers a paper collage on a primed white canvas, marked by Basquiat's handprints, underscoring his physical engagement with the piece. Central to the collage are drawings and inscriptions familiar to Basquiat’s practice, including the phrase "SQUARE DANCES," reflecting Basquiat's spontaneous and energetic creative process, as well as a deep engagement with music and dance.

Movement and dance factor greatly in Keith Haring’s Untitled from 1979, as well. Its chaotic mix of forms outlined in thick, inky lines create a dynamic sense of movement and foreshadow Haring's later iconic dancing figures. Untitled has remained in the same private collection for two decades and was included in major exhibitions such as Future Primeval, the Whitney Museum's 1997 retrospective, and The Political Line at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2013.

Ernie Barnes' 2002 painting, Dance Studio, captures the synchronized movements of ten dancers in rehearsal. Barnes' work, influenced by his experiences growing up during the Jim Crow Era and his exposure to art history, challenges historical representations of Black bodies by depicting them as heroic figures in a lyrical, expressive style.

Additional contemporary highlights include Jonas Wood's GG HK NPP #3  from 2017, which transforms a simple piece of office stationery into a massive, striking composition. Part of his celebrated Notepads series, the work features a still life with a single potted orchid and three floating basketballs. Wood's flattened perspective and bold colors merge personal iconography with commercial branding, creating a playful yet profound aesthetic.

George Condo's Untitled, c. 2000 features an intricate network of lines and cartoonish faces in lime green and dusky blues. It exemplifies the artist’s self-declared “Psychological Cubism,” which blends surrealism, abstraction, and figuration to explore various psychological states. Works by Nicolas Party, KAWS, and Eleanor Swordy are also among top contemporary highlights. Ultra-contemporary artists making their auction debut in the February New Now sale include ultra-contemporary painters Rae Klein and Hiba Schahbaz.  

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(Press Release)