How I acquired “Untitled (Color Men)” by Rashid Johnson.
Every November in New York you will find me on the hunt for great things for clients in the New York auctions. Today I'll focus on the pursuit for a major Rashid Johnson work Untitled (Color Man) from 2018 at Sotheby's and give you a peek behind the curtain as to how it all played out.
Rashid Johnson (B. 1977)
Untitled (Color Men), 2018
Black soap and wax on ceramic tiles
81 ¾ by 72 ⅛ by 3 in. (207.6 by 183.2 by 7.6 cm.)
In the preview the work was impressive and showed well so it was something my client and I were likely gonna take a run at. The style of the rendering of the eyes and mouth in this particular piece are exceptional and are charged with anxiety, gritted teeth and wild open eyes that radiate with tension. The announcement of the artists upcoming exhibition at the Guggenheim in 2025 also made this a timely acquisition.
From a long history with auctions I understand that in the auction game sometimes things fall into place perfectly for you I had been tracking the interest in this piece daily and to my surprise it had no solid interest from other bidders the morning of the auction. The estimate was $400.000 to $600.000 dollars and I developed a strategy that blended absentee bidding and bidding with the paddle in the room to put my client in a great position to win this piece.
When our lot came up in the auction I had my client on the phone the auctioneer opened the lot at $260.000… $280.000… $300.000… then came our absentee bid in at $320.000 and it was ours. Then came a phone bid over the top against us at $330.000 but we're ready to go and I call out our bid in the room at $340.000. Now comes the long wait… Is the other bidder coming back?… Perhaps a new bidder?… Then from the auctioneer last call the hammer goes up and down it goes and bang! We bought a fantastic Rashid Johnson for an exceptional price.