Now with his starring role in The Batman firmly situated in the rearview, Robert Pattinson is moving on to his next project: curating a Sotheby's auction.
The actor is the latest celebrity to join Sotheby's Contemporary Curated auction series with Pattinson hand selecting a lot of six works from their collection that personally resonated with him. Joining the likes of Swizz Beatz, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Aoki, Ellie Goulding, Kim Jones and Cynthia Erivo who have previously lent their personal tastes and curatorial talents to the auction house, Pattinson brings together a wide variety of pieces from the post-war period to today. From paintings to sculpture, collage and more, the selection of works features everything from established names such as Willem de Kooning and Richard Serra, to up-and-comers like Genieve Figgis and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
“Curating this group of paintings has been a really exciting process and an honor for me," Pattinson says. "To be able to experience and have a dialogue with these works according to my taste — and to place massive titans of 20th-century art next to living artists — has been really satisfying. As an actor, I’ve always felt a certain amount of synesthesia between different art forms and being able to connect them together — whether that is a sculpture or a song or an acting part, all at the same time. Acting has made me realize that there is an interconnectedness between all art forms, and it made the process of curating the sale a fascinating and fun experience for me.”
As for Pattinson's approach to hand picking the works in the exhibition, the actor explains, “What I look for is when a piece has its own language. It doesn't necessarily feel like it just exists for its own sake and has a presence that hums with a bit of life. It has the ability to communicate with you on a kind of primordial level. I sort of sway between things that feel very profound and cosmic and alien. Then even on the other side, I like subversive, naughty, slightly dangerous stuff as well…”
For prospective collectors interested in bidding on the lot, Pattinson advises that you “only acquire pieces that you're going to love, no matter what. Just having something which you're going to keep for the rest of your life is probably the best idea.”
The exhibition will be on view at Sotheby's New York from September 23 to 29 with the auction taking place on September 30. Check out some of Pattinson's picks below.
Kissing by the Window, Genieve Figgis (2005)
Photos courtesy of Sotheby's
- Robert Pattinson Smells Like a Crayon - PAPER ›
- Robert Pattinson Made a Habit of Lying in Interviews - PAPER ›
- Does Robert Pattinson Have a TikTok Account? - PAPER ›
- Artist Addresses MLK Monument Backlash ›