VICTOR SKREBNESKI (B. 1929) portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1990 gelatin silver diptych signed and dated in ink (on the recto) overall 19¼ x 29¼ in. (48.9 x 74.3 cm.) Sold: $9,375

Dennis Hopper (R.I.P.) began his art collection in the 1960s after actor Vincent Price, who was an impressionist art collector himself, had encouraged him, telling him it was where he needed to put his money. Dennis Hopper’s four children auctioned off their dad’s collection of 300 works of art at Christie’s today. Alex Hitz, a close friend and trustee of the estate told Associated Press, “it was Dennis’s wish to sell everything. How do you cut a Warhol and all those other wonderful pieces by four?”

One of the more notable pieces in this collection was Warhol’s Mao, a framed screenprint of Mao Zedong with two bullet holes, resulting from a wild night of partying when Hopper mistook the portrait on his wall for Mao himself and shot at it. When Hopper showed the bullet punctures later to Warhol, the pair agreed to call it a work of collaboration, with Warhol drawing circles around the two holes and labeling them “warning shot” and “bullet hole.” The mystique obviously added to its value as the screen print, which was estimated at $20-$30K, fetched quite a bit more: $302,500

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ (B. 1947) Portrait of Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken at Chateau Marmont, 1995, Estimated at $3-5K sold for $12.5K

Andy Warhol’s Mao, with Dennis Hopper’s bullet holes

JOEL-PETER WITKIN (B. 1939) Portrait of Nan New Mexico 1984

Meanwhile today at Bonham’s in London, the Urban Art Auction cleaned house today. Shepard Fairey’s ‘Change,’ (2008) Obama poster, one of an edition of 5000, which was signed, sold for £4,560. Banksy’s ‘Rude Copper’, (2002) sold for £9,600, and ‘Everytime I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else’, (2003) sold for a nice £42,000.

©Banksy, 'Everytime I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else', 2003

Simon de Pury, turning law and reason on its head, in front of Maurizio Cattelan's Frank and Jaime, 2002. Edition of 3. Estimated at $1-1.5 million. Photo credit:Kisa Lala

Let the drum-rolls begin – Simon dePury, the market-savvy chairman of Phillips de Pury & Company, was at hand to christen the new Park Avenue location for the inaugural preview of the Part 1- Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The collection, entitled ‘Carte Blanche,’ curated by Phillipe Segalot, former international head of Christie’s Contemporary Art, is scheduled for auction November 8, 2010, with a low-estimate of $80,000,000.

Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) 1998-99.Ektacolor photograph. Edition of 2 plus artist proof. Estimated at $1-1.5 million

Phillips’ move uptown to the new 25,559 square feet space at 450 Park Ave will extend their buyers’ circle beyond the Meatpacking District, and bring them closer to their bidding rivals Sotheby’s and Christie’s. “The sale will be a game-changer in the way auctions are being prepared,” said Simon de Pury.

Simon de Pury looking pleased in front of the inverted cops' of Maurizio Cattelan's Frank and Jaime. Photo credit: Kisa Lala

Paul McCarthy, Mechanical Pig, 2005. Edition of 3 +1 AP. Estimate $2.5-3.5 million

Takashi Murakami, the poster child for the show, is his own best salesman. Riding high on his Versailles exhibition, he currently commands high prices (listed estimate of $4-6million for Miss KO²), but his work, though astonishing at first, can quickly turn dreary on the twentieth reiteration. It’s unfortunate for Warhol that his career ended before the Age of Reproduction fully took hold, because with the multiplicity of editions that abound, even Walter Benjamin would be baffled by the soaring and undiminished value of an ‘original’.

But sometimes, a reproduction, as in the case of Cattelan’s Stephanie, maybe a better bargain than its original.

Maurizio Cattelan, Stephanie, 2003. Edition of 3 + 1 AP Estimate: $1-1.5 million

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985. Edition of 6. Estimate: $2-$3 million

View of Phillips de Pury's space at 450 Park Avenue with upper tier skyboxes for premium clients. Photo: Kisa Lala

Phillips de Pury's new location at 450 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Phillips de Pury & Company, the world’s third largest auction house, has been expanding their ventures worldwide – and this may not come as a surprise in view of recent auctions such as at Sotheby’s, which announced record sales, an indication that the art market isn’t softening in this recession, and that investors are willing to bypass the stagnant stock market for the safety of old masters and blue-chip moderns.

Apart from their recent Contemporary Art sale with record auctions of $50 million worth of art sold, Phillips de Pury had also begun a series of innovative and profitable “theme” sales titled BRIC, MUSIC and AFRICA. The highly successful BRIC auction in April in London focused on the so-called BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Repackaging art around themes has had lucrative pay-offs, and now with the economic rise of Asian countries, Phillips de Pury and other auction houses are creating a new buying frenzy among these nations’ patriotic elite.

Phillips’ move uptown to the new 25,559 square feet space, at 450 Park Ave will attract buyers who may find their other Meatpacking District location a bit out of reach – and put them in closer proximity to midtown rivals Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

Phillips de Pury at 450 Park Avenue

The space will premiere in November with their show, “Carte Blanche,” directed by Philippe Segalot, the former international head of Christie’s Contemporary Art department, and be curated by other art world figures. Evening sales along with single-owner and jewelry sales will take place over three floors with skyboxes on offer for premium clients.

The Meatpacking District location will continue to showcase design and photography, and Chairman, Simon de Pury says, “Finally with 450 Park Avenue and 450 West 15th Street, Phillips de Pury will have the ultimate contemporary art spaces both uptown and downtown.” He added in the WSJ, “While downtown is a space where contemporary-art lovers frequent, there are still a lot of clients based uptown, so this will be a small convenience for them to have more access to us.”

"Actions of Chinese Characters," by Yue Minjun

Though it may be a bit of an afterthought, we couldn’t, in all good conscience, let Yue Minjun’s New York show pass you by without even the slightest notation in the margin.

Comprised of twenty-eight never-before-seen paintings featuring a smiling likeness of himself, Minjun once again demonstrates that a smile doesn’t always denote a euphoric mindset. Stretched ear-to-ear across the canvas, each visceral vignette smiles in the artist’s terrifying trademark, the weight of the world—and a draconian government—quite visibly taking its toll. Throw the paintings in a mold, add plaster, and you may just have an stunning recreation of the entombed souls of Pompeii, their fate forever sealed behind a locked door of a haunting veneer. Minjun says of his work, “”I paint people laughing, whether it is a big laugh, a restrained laugh, a crazy-laugh, a near-death laugh or simply laughter about our society: Laughter can be about anything. Laughter is a moment when our mind refuses to reason. When we are puzzled by certain things, our mind simply doesn’t want to struggle, or perhaps we don’t know how to think, therefore we just want to forget it. The 90’s is the time when everyone should laugh.”

"Untitled (Smile-ism No. 8)"

A known “Cynical Realist” since emerging on the scene in 1989, Minjun is considered a major player in the movement, which is to date the largest and most popular contemporary art campaign currently in China. Those who chose to break away from the established sociopolitical norms that have been in place since the Chinese Revolution’s inception are changing the art world and shattering sales records for contemporary art to emerge from Asia (a painting of Minjun’s was sold at Christie’s in Hong Kong $5.9 million).

The show is running at Arario Gallery in Chelsea until January 16th.