Pop art painting fetches $434,500

NEW YORK (Kyodo) A painting by Yoshitomo Nara, a contemporary pop artist known for his sculptures and paintings of doe-eyed figures, fetched $434,500 at a Wednesday auction in New York, Christie's said.

The bid for "Runaway Baby," painted in 1995, was well above the estimated $200,000 to $300,000, the auction house said Thursday, adding the painting was sold to a private collector in the United States.

Nara emerged on the scene during the pop art movement in the 1990s.

"Sphere Monogram," painted in 2003 by contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, sold for $386,500, against an estimated bid of $300,000 to $500,000, Christie's said.