Hip-hop great Dr Dre and record executive Jimmy Iovine got Frieze Week in Los Angeles off to a thumping start this with a charity auction on Tuesday night, co-organised by Sotheby’s, which raised nearly $2.5m to benefit the pair’s Iovine and Young Center for High School Education. The sale, held at Iovine’s home, brought out celebrity supporters including the television host Katie Couric, the influential sports agent Rich Paul and the film producer Brian Grazer, and featured performances by the producer Timbaland and the singer Andra Day.
Works by the late Los Angeles artist Noah Davis and the New York-based artist Derek Fordjour exceeded expectations, but the night’s biggest bidding war—appropriately, given the crowd—was over Record Collection (2024), a painting of shelves amply stocked with vinyl, by the American artist Hilary Pecis. The hammer finally dropped at $700,000, more than four times its high estimate.