#WorkoftheWeek: Dan Colen’s 'Holy Shit' (2004–06) features these two words spray painted in red on a dirty canvas, which is displayed upside down. The text-based work from the star artist’s early days in downtown Manhattan was offered as lot 443 of Christie’s Postwar to Present auction on Monday, September 30. It sold for $12,700 against a $10,000–$15,000 estimate (sale prices include fees, estimates do not).
The price is strikingly low for Colen, whose paintings have sold for $3 million at auction, according to the Artnet Price Database. Holy Shit fetched $341,000 when it was offered at Sotheby’s contemporary evening auction on November 13, 2013. It has traded hands since, according to the published provenance. In 2023, it returned to the block at Sotheby’s with the much reduced estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 but found no takers.














