Martha Stewart, the multi-hyphenate author-businesswoman-original influencer, is now expanding her reach to the contemporary art world. This spring, the cultural maven has curated her first-ever art sale with Joopiter, Pharrell Williams’ auction platform. Titled The Contemporary Take, Stewart pulled together nearly 50 artworks by a variety of today’s leading artists. The sale runs from April 28 through May 6.
“The Contemporary Take includes works from some of my favorite contemporary artists—some of whom I know personally,” Stewart said in a statement. “This sale is an opportunity to start a collection of your own—or to expand one you have already begun. It’s also an opportunity to learn. It is exciting that Joopiter is initiating such an opportunity and I am thrilled to have curated a selection of works I love for this first sale.”
Among the standout entries are works by artists like Andy Warhol, Amy Sherald, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Esther Mahlangu, George Condo, and Ai Weiwei. The show features paintings, but also sculptural and multimedia works like a wall-mounted pill case by Damien Hirst, a stitched quilt of NBA jerseys by Hank Willis Thomas, and a rubber tire sculpture by Chakaia Booker.
The selected art feels appropriate for springtime, with works like Tom Wesselmann’s Monica Lying on Blanket to Alex Katz’s Straw Hat 3. There are floral pieces, like Danielle Orchard’s Bouquet, and more abstract pieces with bright colors, like Damien Hirst’s Ribonucleic Acid.
The pieces anticipated to sell for the highest amounts include Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Bark Scraper, estimated to sell for $900,000 to $1.2 million; Hirst’s pillcase, Up at Dawn, expected to fetch $500,000 to $700,000; and Raymond Pettibon’s Untitled (Hermosa Beach), estimated to go for $150,000 to $200,000.
Rachel Silva is the associate digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers all things design, architecture, and lifestyle. She also oversees the publication’s feature article coverage, and is, at any moment, knee-deep in an investigation on everything from the best spa gifts to the best faux florals on the internet right now. She has more than 16 years of experience in editorial, working as a photo assignment editor at Time and acting as the president of Women in Media in NYC. She went to Columbia Journalism School, and her work has been nominated for awards from ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, and World Press Photo.
