Ed Ruscha, 2025 Art Auction Honoree. Photo: Greg Gorman.

Via PR

MCA Chicago and Sotheby’s to host Art Auction benefit honoring Ed Ruscha on June 6, 2025 

CHICAGO—The Museum of Contemporary Art and Sotheby’s are excited to announce the Art Auction 2025, Chicago’s premier event celebrating art and artists, on June 6, 2025. This year, the auction boasts a selection of works from some of the most significant contemporary artists of our time, including Yoko Ono, Sarah Sze, Gary Simmons, Rashid Johnson, Nicole Eisenman, and Paul Pfeiffer. In addition to staging a live auction of more than 100 works of art, the 2025 Art Auction honors visionary artist Ed Ruscha for his lifetime of contributions to the art world.

2025 Honoree

One of the most significant and inventive artists of our time, Ed Ruscha has built an extraordinary six-decade career that is as difficult to categorize as it is to contain. Featuring vernacular imagery that draws on popular media, language, and everyday matters of life, Ruscha’s body of work—which spans painting, drawing, photography, books, and film—reveals an artist whose influence exceeds any one genre or movement. Indeed, he is among that rare group of artists whose impact is felt at the level of art history and US visual culture more broadly.

Bidding for the auction will officially open online on May 19, 2025, with the in-person auction following at the MCA on June 6. All auction works will be on view in the second-floor Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries on May 30 through June 6, 2025. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with a cocktail reception, a viewing of available works, and a silent auction, followed by a seated dinner and a live auction led by Phyllis Kao, Vice President, Sotheby’s New York. Guests also have the option of bidding by phone. Proceeds from the auction support the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and its vision of championing revelatory art for all through exhibitions, educational programs, and live art events.

The 2025 Art Auction will also honor Ed Ruscha and celebrate the MCA’s long history with the artist. The MCA holds numerous works by Ruscha in its permanent collection and has had the pleasure of witnessing Ruscha’s rise starting in 1988 with Ed Ruscha: Recent Paintings. This celebration of the artist coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the major exhibition Ed Ruscha in 2000, which cemented his status as an important international figure in contemporary art. During his six-decade career, Ruscha has created work spanning painting, drawing, photography, books, and film, in a practice whose influence exceeds any one genre or movement. The MCA is deeply grateful that he is among the generous and storied artists who enliven our institution with their work for this auction.

In 1968, the MCA’s first Art Auction was founded by a group of trustees to raise funds for the museum. The 2025 Art Auction is cochaired by board trustees Anita Blanchard, Ilan Shalit, and Joyce Yaung. Those wishing to attend can find more information online, including table reservation and tier details.

The event features cocktails and a preview of the art, followed by a seated dinner and live auction.

Register to bid online with Sotheby’s at sothebys.com/mcaauction.

For more information about this event, please contact Morgan Turner, Fundraising Events Assistant, at MTurner@mcachicago.org or 312-397-3862.

View the 2025 Art Auction Digital Catalogue.