Mark Bradford b. 1961 Helter Skelter I, 2007 Estimate: £6 – 8 million
This season, Phillips will present Mark Bradford’s Helter Skelter I from the Collection of John McEnroe, 7-time Grand Slam Champion and avid collector of contemporary art. The large-scale work was executed in 2007 and stands over 10 meters wide, evocative of the urban landscape of Los Angeles. Phillips currently hold the top two auction prices for Bradford’s work, having sold Constitution IV, 2013 in October 2015 and Rat Catcher of Hamelin III, 2011 in October 2016. Expected to realise in excess of £6 million, Helter Skelter I has never been publicly offered and is poised to set a new auction record for the artist when it is presented in the Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art in London on 8 March, 2018.
John McEnroe, said:
“I have this history of buying monumental, expressive works, and it’s always driven by this idea that they would have a future life after my collection, in a way that’s hopefully more public. So when I was told I was going to see the mother of all Bradford’s, and I saw Helter Skelter, I remember just thinking to myself, ‘oh my God, here we go again’. What I love about this work is that every time you go up to it, you see something you hadn’t seen before and experience something a little different. I hope and believe its next owner will be able to appreciate it for a very long time.”
