LONDON.- Christie’s and Saatchi Gallery present Handpicked: 100 Artists Selected by The Saatchi Gallery, an auction of 100 artworks by 100 contemporary artists offered in support of the Saatchi Gallery’s free entry and education programme. From the collection of Charles Saatchi, these works bring together some of the most compelling artistic talent working today. The selection reflects the Saatchi Gallery’s commitment to provide an innovative forum for contemporary art. Handpicked features art from America and the UK as well as Europe, Canada, Costa Rica and South Korea and includes many of the most exciting names from across the globe including Julia Dault, Anthea Hamilton, Laure Prouvost and Jon Rafman.

Handpicked will take place at Christie’s in March 2017: 50 of the works will be offered at Christie’s South Kensington on 10 March, concluding the 20th Century at Christie’s auction season; 50 will be offered at Christie’s New York on 22 March. Estimates start at £1,000 and range up to £35,000, presenting an exciting opportunity to acquire artworks selected by the Saatchi Gallery. The exhibition to accompany the auction will run 4-9 March (London) and 18-21 March (New York).

Francis Outred, Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe comments: “In an ever more globalised art world, the Saatchi Gallery’s ongoing commitment to showing the very best of the new, together with its mission to educate, has inspired a whole generation of collectors, curators, gallerists and, of course, artists to new heights of achievement on both sides of the Atlantic. Handpicked demonstrates the Saatchi Gallery’s transatlantic scope and international ambition.”

Philippa Adams, Senior Director, The Saatchi Gallery comments: “With exhibitions and auctions at both Christie’s London and New York, Handpicked presents one hundred artworks by artists that reflect the range and ambition of the Saatchi Gallery’s programme. This platform supports the Gallery’s mission to raise awareness of emerging talent and contemporary art with free entry.”

Highlights of the London auction include Light Perpetual by Conrad Shawcross, an articulated arm with a single lightbulb at the end that rotates at a speed of 200rpm within a giant cage (estimate: £10,000-15,000); and a series of 30 portraits by Annie Kevans depicting the faces of dictators as children, some actual and some invented (estimate: £18,000-25,000). Highlights from the New York section of Handpicked include Henry Taylor’s painting of “The Young, the Brave, Bobby Hutton”, R.I.P. Oakland, California, vividly capturing the tension and pride in the pose of a seventeen-year old killed by police (estimate: $35,000-45,000); Amansalva by Federico Herrero, a painting that exemplifies the artist’s vibrant abstract language (estimate: $15,000-20,000) and Dana Schutz’s portrait of an albino woman (estimate: $12,000-18,000).

The Saatchi Gallery was established over 30 years ago and has built a collection of lasting importance, through an unswerving focus on fresh talent. The Gallery showcases the best emerging work from around the globe, in a museum environment visited by thousands of schools annually. The Art Newspaper’s International Survey of Museum Attendance 2016 reported that the Gallery held 15 of the 20 most-visited museum exhibitions in London over the past five years; it is also the world’s most-followed museum on social media.

The Saatchi Gallery was the first art space in the UK to show a host of artists before they became household names, from Jeff Koons and Bruce Nauman to Andreas Gursky, Sigmar Polke and Damien Hirst. The interchange between New York and London was a leading principle from the very founding moments of the gallery: within its first two years of opening, in 1985, the Boundary Road location held Cy Twombly and Brice Marden’s first U.K. exhibitions. The 1987-88 show New York Art Now, featuring Jeff Koons, Robert Gober, Peter Halley, Haim Steinbach, Philip Taaffe and Caroll Dunham, would have an immeasurable impact on British art through its influence on the Young British Artists, who then in turn became the next generation of artists shown at the gallery.