The auction was great. It was part of their new theme sales, this one staging music-inspired contemporary art, design editions, photographs and memorabilia, with a live soundtrack by Matthew Herbert. There was sensational work by rock (Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Jim Morrison) and art (Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf) stars; fashion photographers (Albert Watson, Helmut Newton, Miles Aldridge); and (not so) Young British Artists (Gavin Turk, Sam Taylor-Wood, Damien Hirst). I so very much wanted an amazing iconic photograph of the Stones and watched the price get higher and higher that I couldn't even watch the gavel hit the podium when it sold. There was also some great work that really was unique, which included: a self-portrait in blood by the notoriously self-destructive musician Pete Doherty (formerly of the Libertines and Kate Moss), distressed gauzy prints by Riceboy Sleeps (a Sigur Rós-associated duo) and a rhinestoned painting of Donna Summer by Mickalene Thomas. Elsewhere, iconoclastic images like Shi Xinning’s imagined meeting between the Beatles and Mao and a silk-screen print of the Rolling Stones clad in female Elizabethan garb by Jesus Diaz De Vivar turn the rock star-worshiping on its head. Fashion was very briefly represented by a Technicolor couture dress by Bernhard Willhelm that Björk wore on her Volta tour and by one of Bob Dylan’s fringed leather jackets. Better than either, though, was the diamond-encrusted eye patch commissioned for the bling-loving rapper Slick Rick. Simon de Pury had said, "Whether it's Peter Blake creating the ultimate album cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles in the 60s or more recently Damien Hirst doing all the fabulous artowrk for the last two releases of The Hours, there has been an inextricably close link between art and music."
My favorite part of the auction was definitely Matthew Herbert's influence with his bespoke score "sound carpet" to accompany the live event conducted by Simon de Pury. He mixed songs from Frank Sinatra with Jay-Z, to Run DMC with top Jazz performers and Beyonce with Donna Summer, Snoop Dogg and Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Sammy Davis Jr. The sounds really got the audience excited and made the normal auction experience a bit more fun and unique!
Also, a collection of works from the Destroy/Rankin project were offered up in a charity auction where all proceeds go to Youth Music to help change young peoples live with the power of music, whatever the circumstances: 80 destoryed photographic portraits of renowned musicians, which had been sent to the featured musicians to be artistically defaced, were on display at Philips as well. The artists all did really different things to their portraits and was definitely interesting to see.
As the auction ended, I headed into a reception room with others in cocktail attire and was served champagne and delicious chocolate birthday cake with for Simon! We sang happy birthday (in English and French) and Simon cut the first piece of cake. Then I chatted with classy European art/music-lovers into the evening. A really fun night, indeed!
