Melting Moments 1, an acrylic on canvas work measuring roughly 1.6 x 2.1 metres, is expected to fetch around $1.5-2 million.
Charles Ninow, director of art at Webb’s auction house, told Morning Report that the painting was from Hammond’s most sought-after period in the late 1990s.
“1999, the year when this work was made, was when he made his most iconic work, those beautiful green and gold images full of those bird people that people associate with him. This really is a masterpiece,” Ninow said.
Hammond started painting ‘bird people’ in the 1990s, “almost like hieroglyphics” following a visit to some remote sub-Antarctic islands.
“It was there that he first thought about what would the world be like without us humans? And then he imagined this bird race that ruled the world.”
Ninow said he thought Hammond, who died in 2021, was one of New Zealand’s best artists. His other works are held in museums and art galleries around Aotearoa and in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
“This is the kind of work that will be appropriate for really anyone who's trying to assemble a collection of the very, very best New Zealand artworks," Ninow said.
"You would be surprised, though we’ve a very, very strong market in this country."
