NEW YORK.-This season, there is one more reason to return to New York after the Fourth of July break – Open House, Christie’s sale of Post-War & Contemporary Art on July 10 which is not going to break records, not going to cause a major shift in investment portfolios, not going to make headlines on the financial news. Open House instead will offer a range of original, fun and affordable art, maybe slightly eccentric on certain occasions, but with the enormous appeal of the ‘real’ thing with a ‘do-able’ price. Estimates vary from $1,000 up to $50,000 and several works will be offered without reserve.

Open House is nothing if not different. With price levels for Post-War & Contemporary Art rising at breakneck speed, this refreshing summertime auction shows that there is life – and a lot of it – at other levels of the market. Very well-known names – as in Joseph Beuys, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman – will sail alongside artists who are more opaque, more unexplored and more discover-able such as Tomory Dodge, Rita Ackermann, and Kim McCarty. Auction: Open House July 10 at 10 a.m. Viewing: Christie’s Galleries at Rockefeller Center July 5 - 9.