Just at the start of Frieze week in Los Angeles, a week of honoring contemporary art and LA culture running through March 3, a special auction took place at a “personal home skating rink” owned by Jimmy Iovine, a cofounder of Interscope Records, and his wife, English model Liberty Ross, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Feb. 28.
The event raised $2.48 million for the Iovine and Young Center, a magnet school for high schoolers preparing for careers in design, technology and entrepreneurship. The philanthropic event was hosted by Sotheby’s, school founders Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, as well as gallerist David Kordansky and Josh Abraham, co-CEO of Pulse Music Group,
“When Josh approached me with the idea of teaming up with him and David Kordansky to host an auction for the Iovine and Young Center, I immediately knew we had all the right ingredients to create an unrivaled celebration of art and music,” Jacqueline Wachter, Sotheby’s vice chairman of private sales, said in a statement.
Entertainer James Corden and auctioneer Kimberly Pirtle charmed the room of buyers who sat on white furniture bidding tens of thousands of dollars on a variety of art and others who were drinking pre-mixed cocktails in a white can with ‘Gin & Juice’ printed on them, a newly-launched beverage by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre named after the hit and second single of Snoop Dogg’s debut album, Doggystyle. The auction united the worlds of art, music and philanthropy during the week of highlighting the art scene in the southern California city. Among the attendees were Ed Ruscha Benny Blanco, Katie Couric, Brian Grazer, Bob Geldof, Joel Madden, Troy Carter and Rich Paul.
Artworks sold, courtesy of the artists and David Kordansky Gallery, included Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Seascape Drawing (2022), which had a $300,000 high estimate (actual sale price wasn’t disclosed), and the headline of the auction, Hilary Pecis’s Record Collection (2024), sold for $700,000, seven times its low estimate.
“Coming together with David Kordansky was the perfect fit—once David got involved, he brought together his community of leading artists and tapped into Sotheby’s, which shares our mission,” Josh Abraham, co-CEO of Pulse Music Group, said in a statement. “This is an instance where all the right people and ethos aligned.”
The auction was white-glove sale, meaning all of the items on the block were sold. Five of the 11 works were sold above their high estimates, including Noah Davis’s Untitled (2015), which had never been traded before.
The event concluded with special music performances by R&B singers Timbaland and Andra Day.
