Madison Avenue’s auction calendar has a new pair of tastemakers. Sotheby’s has tapped New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns and entrepreneur and model Jordyn Woods to curate a selection of works for its Contemporary Curated sale in New York on October 7, a collaboration first reported on September 14 and 15.
The brief
The couple selected 10 postwar and contemporary works, spanning painting, sculpture and works on paper, Artsy reported. Their picks will be on public view at Sotheby’s New York from October 2 to 7 ahead of the live auction, giving collectors and the curious nearly a week to see the selection in person. The artists include Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Helen Frankenthaler, Alma Thomas, George Condo, John Chamberlain, Ed Ruscha and Rashid Johnson, with Artsy also listing Sam Gilliam.
Contemporary Curated is a recurring Sotheby’s format that mixes postwar modernist pioneers with influential contemporary artists; an earlier 2026 edition, held in February, took place at the auction house’s new headquarters in the Breuer building on Madison Avenue.
What they chose
Among the headline lots, according to Artnet News:
- Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964), estimated at $2.5 million to $3.5 million. Artsy notes the work comes from the collection of the architect Robert A.M. Stern.
- George Condo’s I Want My Brain Back (2020), estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.
- Alma Thomas’s Red Mums Display (1977), estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.
- John Chamberlain’s Untitled (1967), estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.
The Lichtenstein material drew particular attention. Artsy reports that one selection, Interior with Painting of Nude (Study) (1997), comes directly from the collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein. Of a Lichtenstein selection, Towns said in press materials quoted by Artnet: “I love seeing something that’s different from what people usually associate with him.”
Collecting as autobiography
Rather than presenting the selection as an investment thesis, the pair framed it as personal. “We collect based on connection,” they said in a statement quoted by Artnet News, describing works tied to “an artist, a memory, a cultural influence, or a moment from our travels.” Artsy writes that their picks include pieces that evoke Los Angeles and family remembrance, and quotes the couple saying that “art holds memories and tells stories.”
Why it matters
Auction houses have been courting a younger, more culturally fluent generation of buyers, and celebrity guest curators are an increasingly visible way to do it. Towns and Woods bring audiences from sports, fashion and social media that rarely overlap with the traditional evening-sale crowd. The mix they chose, placing Alma Thomas and Sam Gilliam beside Warhol and Lichtenstein, also presents Black American abstraction as part of the postwar canon rather than an addendum to it.
For New York, it is a reminder that the line between the Garden and the gallery has never been especially firm.
See all sources
- Knicks Legend Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods Curate a Sotheby’s Auction, Artnet News, 2026-09-15
- NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns and model Jordyn Woods to curate Sotheby’s auction, Artsy, 2026-09-14
- Contemporary Curated | 2026, Sotheby’s, 2026-02-25
Lead image: illustrative photo by Laura Cleffmann on Unsplash.
