Sam Francis' Join the Chaos makes $334,000 at Phillips

Sam Francis' Join the Chaos (1990) has sold for £194,500 ($333,771) at Phillips' contemporary art auction in London on July 3 - an increase of 29.3% on a £150,000 ($257,407) estimate.

Francis (1923-1994) was an American artist who fell under the influence of Tachisme while studying in Paris in 1950.

The movement is considered the European response to the abstract expressionism that swept New York during the era.

Sam Francis Chaos
Sam Francis' Join the Chaos was created through drip painting

There seems to be a renewed interest in Francis' work of late, with a painting titled Middle Blue (1957) selling for $6.3m in 2010.

Damien Hirst's Septicaemia (2003) proved another highlight, achieving £134,000 ($229,758) - up 11.6% on a £120,000 ($205,753) estimate.

The work is made up of countless dead flies glued to a canvas and features a signature from Hirst on a copy of a poem titled Sickness The Martyrdom of Saint Jude, which is fixed to the reverse.

It was created for Hirst's solo show Romance in the Age of Uncertainty (2003) at the White Cube in London and was one of a series of works inspired by plague and disease.

On July 2, My Bed by Tracy Emin, another of the Young British Artists, sold for £2.5m ($4.3m) at Christie's in London.

Can't afford a Damien Hirst? We have this signed illustration available.

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