SATURDAY@PHILLIPS TASTEMAKERS HAMISH BOWLES, FOUNDERS HUMBERTO LEON & CAROL LIM AND EVERARD FINDLAY CONFESS THEIR COLLECTING OBSESSIONS TO SATURDAY@PHILLIPS LIFESTYLE CATALOGUE

PIONEERS AND UPSTARTS OF URBAN ART TO BE SHOWCASED INCLUDING: ALËXONE, BANKSY, BAST, BEEJOIR, FAFI, FAILE, SHEPARD FAIREY, INVADER, KAWS, PAUL INSECT, BARRY MCGEE, JUDITH SUPINE, SKULLPHONE, SWOON ET AL.

SATURDAY@PHILLIPS ANSWERS A TOY ART JUNKIE’S DREAM, WITH ORIGINAL CREATIONS FROM CARLOS ENRIQUEZ-GONZALEZ, TIM BISKUP, BOB CONGE, MIKE LE MERDE AND MARK NAGATA: THE LATEST WAVE OF TOY ART

THREE ARTISTS MEET A WHITE SHIRT: GHADA AMER, VIK MUNIZ AND BILLY SULLIVAN MEET CALVIN KLEIN’S FRANCISCO COSTA, TO BENEFIT WHITNEY INDEPENDENT STUDIES PROGRAM

AUCTION DATE: October 25, 2008 OPENING RECEPTION: October 21, 2008 VIEWINGS: October 21-25, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York – September 30 – Phillips de Pury & Company poses a provocative question: What do a trapeze, Subversive Jewelry , Hamish Bowles , Banksy and a Vagina Brain Monster have in common? The tasteful answer is Saturday@Phillips : the eclectic, energetic auction of contemporary culture.

Anchoring the Saturday@Phillips sale is the participation of its three Phillips de Pury Tastemakers : Hamish Bowles , Opening Ceremony founders Humberto Leon & Carol Lim and Everard Findlay . These arbiters of elegance and style were extended the privilege of a “first dibs” preview of the Saturday@Phillips offerings; each Tastemaker then selected their personal favorites and confessed their private collecting obsessions within the pages of the forthcoming Saturday@Phillips lifestyle catalogue. While fashionistas Leon and Lim select examples of contemporary works from Ryan McGinley and Kara Walker to supplement their budding art collections, Findlay, the creative philanthropist, would prefer to lie down on Jean Prouvé ’s chic Flavigny bed and admire Malick Sidibé’s Nuit de Noël (Happy Club). Mr. Bowles, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Living and the European Editor-at-large for Vogue , relates how he procured his first couture garment as a teenager in – and spins another tale that nicely illustrates the aphorism, “Everything comes to he who waits!” (continues p. 2)

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TOY ART at SATURDAY@PHILLIPS: THE NEW WAVE

Always on the cutting-edge of contemporary culture, Saturday@Phillips presents the latest wave of Toy Art created by a new generation of artists raised on a diet of Japanese pop culture, but also informed by punk rock, skateboarding, graphic design and graffiti art. This latest wave of Toy Art riffs on the original heroes and creatures of Japanese toy culture: 1960s Japanese kaiju “monster” characters such as Ultraman and Godzilla seen in cult movies, television shows and manga comics, and seminal action figures from the 1970s “Golden Era of Live Action TV” such as the slug-head Magma Tiishi from Space Giants . The fantasies and nightmares of a post-WWII Japan translated to compelling heroics and epic battles in the television and movies of each era, and inevitably into each toy figurine. This latest generation of toys under the banner of Toy Art pays homage to the legacy from the past, but signifies that this cult-collector craze has now become an artistic phenomenon with global appeal.

Says Steve Agin , Toy Specialist at Phillips de Pury and Company: “The term “Toy Art” first time recognizes that these figurines are art and that their making is an art form. There is an aesthetic contingent to the toy community that is embarking on a cultural investigation of exactly what toys are and what they represent or signify as artifacts.”

Many of the Toy Art creators began as diehard toy collectors first, evidenced by Carlos Enriquez-Gonzalez ’s spectacular toys featured in this sale. Standing an impressive 13 inches high, Ear Monster is an opalescent ear figurine made even more surreal with rainbow boots, two antennae and long flowing hair, in direct quotation from the original Magma Tiishi from Space Giants . Ear Monster is unique and estimated at $3,000- $4,000. Also offered from the Venezuelan artist is Vagina Brain Monster , a Dali -worthy erotic nightmare painted in a metallic magenta hue. This work is estimated at $3,000-4,000. Finally, Enriquez-Gonzalez presents a melting world in Mushroom Carousel , estimated at $4,000-6,000. This rainbow-painted mushroom carousel features disembodied human and animals, a psychedelic reference to the devastating nuclear legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

An extraordinary Giant Megaton Hedorah produced in 2008 by the revered Japanese toy company Marmit also taps into the Godzilla legacy beginning in the 1960s. Also known as “Smog Monster”, this faithful replica of the original Hedorah creature appeared in the original Godzilla episodes and has a patina of hand-applied glitter and is estimated at $1,000-1,500.

A longtime member of the toy collector community, Bob Conge goes one step further by creating toys accompanied by their own mythologies penned by the artist himself. Conge’s Sum & Son of Sum comes with a signed drawing by the artist and is estimated at $4,000-6,000.

Additional contemporary toy artists in this sale include Steve Forde and Martin Ontiveros. Toys from Mike Le Merde , Skull Head Butt , Rumble Monsters and Target Earth Company will be introduced to the market for the first time and presented alongside the Japanese toy giants, Marmit and Bandai .

A rare set of hand-painted artist figurines that reflect the convergence of Urban Art and Toy Art are offered from the legendary street artists Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen . These self-portraits of the legendary art couple are offered each with an estimate of $200-300.

URBAN ART: NOT IN YOUR MOTHER’S ART COLLECTION (BUT MAY WELL SOON BE)

An international showcase of 75 lots of urban street art is included in this sale, curated with the expertise of Alex Smith , Contemporary & Urban Art Specialist at Phillips de Pury & Company. The exciting Urban Art movement emerged in the 1990s as a potent blend of politics and Pop, graffiti and graphic design, playing out in the urban streets. Over time, work from the pioneers of the genre including from Barry McGee and Shepard Fairey , stepped into the gallery space. Urban art’s capacity to influence and absorb contemporary cultural references – from the LV monogram to Barack Obama – has a universal appeal which will always remain rooted in the street, but which now has inspired the contemporary art world.

A key highlight of the sale is Faile ’s Three Works: F-heads is offered with an estimate of $10,000-15,000. The Brooklyn-based collective Faile has created a roster of appealing mascots, including Challenger , Wolfman (continues p. 3)

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and Bunny Boy . F-Head is a boyish spaceman figure wearing a helmet decorated with stars, clouds and a rainbow.

D*Face often appropriates contemporary art references in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Sado Samo is a visual quotation of Andy Warhol’s 1982 Polaroid portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat , onto which D*Face has left his “defacement” calling card by painting wings and a childish tongue sticking out of Basquiat’s unsmiling mouth. Sado Samo is estimated at $15,000-20,000 and is a potent commentary against the cult of celebrity.

Working in a deceptively similar stencil vein as his British colleague Banksy , Nick Walker ’s comic and caustic work Ratatouille throws paint in the face of critics who can’t seem to get it straight. Ratatouille is offered at an estimate of $10,000-15,000.

Additional works from Beejoir , Faile , Shepard Fairey , Barry McGee are offered alongside works from emerging artists including as Alëxone , BAST , Fafi , Herakut and Swoon . Meet the Pigs by the German duo Herakut is offered with an estimate of $8,000-12,000 and the narrative-rich Saint Maclou by French artist Alëxone is presented with an estimate of $4,000-6,000.

FASHION MEETS ART TO BENEFIT THE WHITNEY INDEPENDENT STUDIES PROGRAM

Works from a special collaboration in 2006 between Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa and the contemporary artists Ghada Amer , Vik Muniz and Billy Sullivan will be presented, with all proceeds to benefit the Whitney Independent Studies Program . These unique works convey the dynamic intersection between fashion and art. Ghada Amer ’s Fear Dress is an elegant and haunting statement on the restrictions of dress codes and culture and is offered at $60,000-80,000. Vik Muniz takes a conceptual tact by quoting Joseph Kosuth in his White Shirt diptych and Joseph Beuys in Suit on Hanger . These Muniz works are presented as a single lot estimated at $10,000-15,000.

S@P OPENING RECEPTION MIXES “WASP” COCKTAILS AND TRAPEZE ARTISTS!

In the playful spirit of Saturday@Phillips, the New York opening reception will feature “ WASP-inspired ” specialty cocktails plus a madcap trapeze performance from Lollo Birgitta , the Brooklynite duo comprised of Cecilia Grimm and (M)Lollo . The Saturday@Phillips Tastemakers and a young, chic crowd of creatives will be in the (auction) house to preview the extraordinary collection of contemporary art, design, photographs, jewelry and toys carefully selected by the specialists at Phillips de Pury & Company.

“COLLECT WILLIAMSBURG” FEATURES WALKING TOUR OF URBAN ART

Get educated! Phillips Art Expert in partnership with Artlog.com and the Williamsburg Gallery Association will host Collect Williamsburg , an art crawl on October 10, 2008. Phillips de Pury & Company specialist Alex Smith kicks off the evening’s events with a revealing street tour of Williamsburg’s covert urban artworks, many by artists featured in Saturday@Phillips New York. Highlights of the tour include a classic Faile graff stencil Bunny Boy and Shepard Fairey’s trademark Andre the Giant Obey . Also be on the lookout for paintings from Os Gemeos and collages from Judith Supine . To register and for more information: www.phillipsartexpert.com

— END —

Saturday@Phillips Auction: October 25, 2008 12 pm

Opening Reception: October 21, 2008 6-9 pm with performance by Lollo Birgitta

Viewings: October 21- 25, 2008 (continues. p. 4)

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For additional press information and images, please contact:

Cynthia Leung +1 212 940 1280 Phillips de Pury & Company [email protected]

Ariel Childs +44 20 7318 4028 Phillips de Pury & Company [email protected]