Archinect - News

Formation Association designs new west coast HQ for Phillips in LA

2023-04-03T18:58:00-04:00

The west coast operation of London-based auction house Phillips has a new home courtesy of Los Angeles’ Formation Association.

Their West Hollywood design was unveiled recently and features a remodeled series of existing structures that includes three showrooms, a covered patio, and offices set amongst a bespoke covering of ficus trees.

Image © Eric Staudenmaier

A rounded marquee greets visitors to the main showroom’s Santa Monica Boulevard entrance, punctuated by an overhead oculus and encased in a heavy gray dash stucco material that conjures the "textures of workaday local building materials in a sculpted manner [while] lending a distinctly southern California identity to the architectural treatment."

Image © Eric Staudenmaier

Inside, a sequence of light-filled gallery spaces begins with the largest Showroom A, which is framed by a soffit ceiling and features a second oculus that plays host to an exposed si...

Norman Foster’s Francis Bacon triptych is expected to fetch $47.3 to $74.3 million

2022-02-17T12:56:00-05:00

Bacon’s Triptych 1986–7, which is scheduled to be sold with an estimate of £35 million to £55 million ($47.3 million to $74.3 million) on March 1 in the first of a series of high-stakes 20th- and 21st-century art auctions, is being sold by star architect Norman Foster, according to people familiar with the work.

The painting is one of 28 historical triptychs Bacon completed between 1944 and 1991. Past auctions have commanded prices as high as $84.6 million (£62.1 million) for similar works, including his masterpiece Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which caused a media sensation in 2013 after setting records as the most expensive painting ever sold.

News of the upcoming auction has already been getting discussed in the Archinect Forum...

Foster appears to have purchased the triptych anonymously in 2007 from New York’s Marlborough Gallery. The piece had recently been shopped around privately for values upwards of $100 million, according to Artnet. Next month's auction will constitute the first time it has appeared in a public sale.

Why does LA have so many new galleries?

2016-03-11T12:27:00-05:00

The grand openings of the Los Angeles branches of European galleries Sprüth Magers and Hauser & Wirth (called Hauser Wirth & Schimmel), on 23 February and 13 March respectively, are sure to generate even more buzz about the booming Los Angeles art scene [...] Some of the buzz is well earned, especially when it comes to cheaper downtown real estate and the great artists working and teaching here. But there is another strong incentive behind so many galleries making the move...

According to the Art Newspaper, LA's new gallery boom reflects market competition to represent the disproportionately sizable population of impressive, well-established artists who, for a variety of reasons, lack gallery representation in their hometown. The article also notes that while opening an LA satellite serves a defensive, even necessary move, the city has yet to develop a real, sustainable collector base.

For more on LA's ever-growing art scene, check out some past coverage: