Top Works to Collect in The Watermill Center Benefit Auction
The 23rd edition of The Watermill Center’s Annual Summer Benefit and Auction presents an excellent opportunity for collectors, showcasing promising artists just starting their practice, alongside many innovators of international acclaim. Bidding will support the center’s year-round Artist Residency and Education programs, which provide a “laboratory” for emerging artists to explore and develop new work. While this year’s auction features more than 100 works, the following list highlights some of the most compelling pieces by artists at various points in their careers.
Clo’e Floirat’s signature “critical drawings,” comment on the world of contemporary art, ranging from sarcastic derision to contemplative musings. For those who missed Floirat’s contribution to last year’s auction, this satirical gem is a perfect example of the artist’s thought-provoking work.
Amy Feldman’s Blessing Message is particularly notable for its impactful juxtaposition of simplicity and dynamism. Completed in one sitting with vigorous strokes of gray paint, the work has a palpable energy manifested in the drips and splashes that surround the apparent “speech bubble” shapes. Feldman has upcoming exhibitions with Ratio 3 in San Francisco, Blain Southern in Berlin, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Genevieve Gaignard has made a name for herself building self-contained narratives and installations around ‘characters’ she creates and photographs—such as this hip, bee-hived ingenue posing on Muscle Beach. In many ways, this young girl staring intently at the photographer is autobiographical—a rural small-town transplant that has moved to Los Angeles to pursue larger dreams. These ‘characters’ are performances through which she can raise a larger dialogue about constructing, exploring, and living within various identities.
Peter Lindbergh is best known for bringing artistic narrative to fashion photography, and initiating the era of the “Supermodel” by photographing the likes of Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and more in the late 1980s. This portrait is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to be captured by one of the world’s most acclaimed pioneers of image-making.
Sarah Meyohas
Sarah Meyohas has always been explicit about how art and finance go hand in hand within her artistic practice. She is deeply influenced by an interdisciplinary academic background, having garnered degrees from both the Wharton School of Business and the Yale School of Art. During the 2014 BitCoin boom, Meyohas became fascinated by the idea of a “digital currency” for the masses, and devised her own version called “BitchCoin,” which created a way for people to directly invest in her work. The currency had a fixed exchange rate of 1 BitchCoin to 25-square-inches of photographic print—as her works’ price increased, so would the relative value of her currency. Blue Speculation was part of her “BitchCoin” project, in which she sold 200 coins for $100 apiece. The work itself is visually stunning, and perfect for photography collectors with a mind for business.
Robert Wilson firmly believes that lighting is the most important part of production design in its distinctive ability to bring a theatrical piece to life and infuse magic into a set. This renowned theater artist (and The Watermill Center Artistic Director) draws upon his vast experience as an experimental stage director, choreographer, and lighting designer to create La Traviata, a light sculpture in which the color and intensity can be moderated and personalized.
