NEW YORK, NY.- On November 16, just one day before Christie's offers a collection of masterpieces estimated at approximately $100 million, Rago Wright will host Thieves & Lovers, an auction of ten works by conceptual artist Eric Doeringer. Featuring handmade recreations of paintings and sculpture by Pablo Picasso, �douard Manet, and Old Masters, alongside three works inspired by Jeff Koons, the sale offers a playful alternative to one of the most anticipated collections of New York's November auction season.

But Doeringer isn't simply making the artworks. Rago Wright is inviting him to take over its New York gallery, website presentation, and marketing channels, turning the auction itself into an extension of his practice. The works will be exhibited at Rago Wright's Chelsea gallery at 501 W 20th St. alongside the preview of its Post War & Contemporary Art auction, while the online presentation of Thieves & Lovers will give the visual conventions of a major auction-house campaign Doeringer's signature bootleg treatment.

The title riffs on Christie's Heroes & Lovers: Property of a Distinguished Collector, a collection of nine works spanning 500 years of art history. Seven of those works, including four paintings by Picasso, a pastel by Manet, a painting by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, and a sculpture by Tilman Riemenschneider, are scheduled to be offered on November 17. The collection is estimated in the region of $100 million.

Doeringer has recreated all seven works appearing in the November sale for Thieves & Lovers. Unlike his typical Bootlegs, which are handmade in small batches and produced in open editions, these seven new works have been made expressly for Rago Wright as unique sale examples, each accompanied by a single artist's proof retained by Doeringer. No additional copies will be produced.

Adding another layer to the project is the collector reportedly behind the Christie's sale: Jeff Koons. According to The New York Times, the collection belongs to the celebrated contemporary artist, whose own work has long engaged with questions of reproduction, commercial value, and the transformation of familiar images and objects into art. Alongside his recreations of the collection, Doeringer will offer three bootlegs inspired by Koons himself: Easyfun Mirror – Cow, JB Turner Train Locomotive, and Mona Lisa Gazing Ball Painting. These works are part of Doeringer's ongoing open-edition Bootleg practice.

All ten works have been hand-signed by Doeringer and stamped Heroes & Lovers on the reverse, a final nod to the sale that inspired them.

“Richard Wright and I had been discussing the possibility of doing an auction-based project together, and Koons’s sale seemed like a good subject. I like the idea of working directly with an auction house – it’s a bit like when Damien Hirst sold his own artwork at Sotheby’s. I’m curious to see which ‘Bootleg’ sells for the highest price, and whether my sale predicts the outcome of Jeff’s,” says Doeringer.

Doeringer has been challenging the art market's conventions for more than two decades. He began his Bootleg series in 2001, selling small, handmade reproductions of artworks by established contemporary artists on the sidewalks of Chelsea, often just steps from the galleries representing them. In 2005, a dispute with a Chelsea dealer over his sidewalk operation became the subject of a New York Times article, cementing his reputation as an artist interested in the boundaries between authorship, commerce, and artistic legitimacy.

In 2019, Doeringer returned to the auction world with Christy's, an exhibition of bootleg versions of works scheduled for a Christie's contemporary art evening sale. Thieves & Lovers revisits that premise with a significant twist: this time an established auction house has invited him inside, offering its own gallery and commercial platform as part of the artistic experiment.

"Auction houses spend a lot of time talking about authenticity, rarity, and value. Eric has spent his career questioning all three,” says Rago Wright CEO Richard Wright. “We thought it would be interesting to invite him into our own space and give him the freedom to turn those questions back on us.”

All works offered in Thieves & Lovers will be available to preview at Rago Wright's New York gallery, 501 West 20th Street, November 5–16. Thieves & Lovers is a live auction event that will take place at Rago Wright on Monday, November 16, 2026, ahead of Christie's November 17 evening sale. The auction accommodates advanced bids, telephone bidding, and in-person and live-online bidding.