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Curators' Picks: July 14 Urban Art Signature® Auction
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Walter's Picks
Walter Ramirez | Consignment Director, Urban Art
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Mayuka Yamamoto's Little Yellow Bear from 2023 is a wonderful example of the artist's distinctive style, combining childhood innocence with quiet emotion. Her familiar wide-eyed figure, dressed in a soft yellow bear hood, looks directly at the viewer with a calm, thoughtful expression that feels both playful and deeply personal. Painted in delicate, luminous tones, the work captures a dreamlike sense of nostalgia while inviting viewers to reflect on themes of comfort, memory, and imagination. Simple in composition yet rich in feeling.
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ROA's Cyanocitta Cristata is an outstanding example of the Belgian artist's celebrated wildlife imagery, bringing together the bold visual language of street art with an extraordinary level of naturalistic detail. Depicting a blue jay at monumental scale, the work reflects ROA's longstanding fascination with animals as symbols of resilience, vulnerability, and the delicate balance of the natural world. Executed in acrylic and enamel on metal, the painting's crisp contrasts and finely rendered plumage create a commanding presence that is both visually striking and deeply contemplative. Fresh to the market, Cyanocitta Cristata highlights the technical precision and unmistakable style that have made ROA one of the most influential figures in contemporary urban art.
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Taylor's Picks
Taylor Curry | Director, Modern & Contemporary Art
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RETNA's Espiritu Santa is the kind of painting that commands attention the moment you enter the room. The monumental scale, saturated cobalt blue, and layered calligraphic forms create a work that feels both ancient and undeniably contemporary. I love the balance between precise, almost architectural structure and the raw energy of enamel drips, which keeps one foot in the artist's graffiti roots. It's a powerful example of the visual language that has made RETNA one of the most recognizable voices to emerge from the post-graffiti movement.
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There's something quietly magnetic about this painting. Marmolejo's figures always seem caught in a private moment, and here the dense canopy of electric blue leaves feels as much psychological as it does physical. The subject is hidden and exposed at the same time, meeting your gaze with an expression that's difficult to pin down. It's the kind of work that keeps revealing itself the longer you spend with it, and a beautiful example of why Marmolejo's paintings have resonated so strongly with collectors in recent years.
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Holly's Picks
Holly Sherratt | Vice President, Modern & Contemporary Art, West Coast
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Created in 2007, Rock in the City and Pop's Dreams
are early works on paper by José Parlá (b. 1973), the Cuban-American artist known for merging abstraction, calligraphy, and the visual language of urban walls. Executed in watercolor and pencil on wove paper, these compositions feature the sweeping gestures, layered marks, and traces of writing that became hallmarks of his mature practice. Born in Miami to Cuban parents and raised between Puerto Rico and the United States, Parlá draws inspiration from graffiti, weathered surfaces, and the accumulated histories of cities. These intimate works date from a pivotal period in his career, just before the large-scale paintings and public commissions that brought him international recognition, including his monumental mural ONE: Union of the Senses
at One World Trade Center.
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Damien Hirst's Beautiful, Sombrely Smouldering Tourbillon Painting (2023) is a unique work from The Beautiful Paintings, a series created in collaboration with HENI that uses machine-learning technology to reinterpret Hirst's celebrated Spin Paintings. Trained on thousands of spin paintings produced by the artist since 1992, the algorithm generated new compositions. Hirst selected the resulting image, which was realized as a high-resolution giclée print on canvas mounted to a circular support. Featuring tones radiating from a dark center, the work evokes the vortex-like motion suggested by the word tourbillon
, French for whirlwind. The series is significant because it translates one of his most recognizable bodies of work into generative art, extending his longstanding exploration of chance and authorship, while reflecting the growing role of artificial intelligence in contemporary artistic practice.
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Hava's Picks
Hava Toobian | Associate Specialist & Lead Cataloger, Urban Art
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Jordy Kerwick's works pulls me in because they feel completely uninhibited. There's an immediacy to the way he works, with bold black lines, vibrant color, and instinctive mark-making that gives each piece a sense of confidence without ever feeling overworked. This work is a great example of what has made Kerwick such a favorite of mine and other contemporary collectors. His fantastical animal figure feels all at once ancient, playful, and a little mysterious, leaving plenty of room for personal interpretation. I especially love works on paper like this because they offer a more intimate glimpse into the artist's hand while still carrying all of the energy and personality found in his larger paintings.
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Koichi Sato has a way of making everyday moments feel wonderfully absurd, and that's exactly what drew me to Basic Muscle Pose 1. His paintings often borrow from vintage magazines, sports photography, and pop culture, but they never feel like straightforward references. Instead, he transforms familiar imagery into something quirky, colorful, and full of personality. I love how this painting balances humor with genuine warmth. The exaggerated pose and flattened forms are playful, but there's also a confidence in the standard body builder pose that keeps you looking and asserts itself.
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Desiree's Picks
Desiree Pakravan | Consignment Director, Modern & Contemporary Art
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This is such a charming oil painting that reflects the artist’s playful engagement with the art world and the culture of collecting. Known for his whimsical depictions of children interacting with iconic works of art, Manelli combines technical skill with humor and nostalgia, creating scenes that are both accessible and thought-provoking. In this painting, a young boy is portrayed with a sense of curiosity and wonder while looking at Banksy’s Balloon Girl, offering a lighthearted commentary on taste, appreciation, and the experience of viewing art. It blends contemporary realism with a narrative quality that resonates with collectors and art enthusiasts alike.
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Nara’s work is so playful and expressive. This diptych is a compelling example of the artist’s iconic portrayal of youthful figures that balance innocence with emotional complexity. Presented as a pair, the works depict the same character in two contrasting states of awareness, one gazing outward and the other with eyes closed, inviting reflection on the character’s world. Blending influences from Japanese manga, popular culture, and personal memory, this work makes an exciting addition to any collection!
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Walter Ramirez
Consignment Director,
Urban Art
WalterR@HA.com
(212) 486-3521
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Taylor Curry
Director, Modern &
Contemporary Art
TaylorC@HA.com
(212) 486-3503
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Holly Sherratt
Vice President, Modern &
Contemporary Art, West Coast
HollyS@HA.com
(415) 548-5921
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Hava Toobian
Associate Specialist &
Lead Cataloger, Urban Art
HavaT@HA.com
(214) 409-1491
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Desiree Pakravan
Consignment Director,
Modern & Contemporary Art
DesireeP@HA.com
(310) 492-8621
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