Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1984, offset lithograph, 17 by 11 inches. Courtesy of Paddle8
It’s been exactly one week since Paddle8’s “Somebody” auction launched online, with 39 works on offer, all by or about celebrities. Included are half a dozen photos and prints by Andy Warhol; fashion photos by Terry O’Neill, Patrick Demarchelier and Mario Testino; and work by younger art stars like Nate Lowman, Josh Smith and Dan Colen.
Within the first hour of the auction’s Mar. 13 launch, Paddle8 received bids on five pieces: a silkscreen by Richard Pettibone (Andy Warhol, Two Jackies, 1964, from 1996), a Jackie Kennedy screenprint by Warhol (Jacqueline Kennedy I, 1966), an untitled 2005 acrylic-on-canvas painting by Lowman, an oilstick-and-coal dust painting by Glenn Ligon (Study for Negro Sunshine #77, 2011) and Testino’s photo of Kate Moss perched on a bathroom sink (Kate Moss at Mine, London, 2006).
Shepard Fairey’s Muhammed Ali screenprint from 2006 has received the most bids with nine, and is currently up to $1,100.
The e-commerce startup launched almost two years ago, and now features themed auctions as well as several simultaneously active benefit auctions hosted by nonprofits (six such sales are currently live on the site). The “Somebody” sale was organized with Interview magazine (A.i.A.‘s sister publication). Bidding is open through Mar. 27.