Joana Vasconcelos, Phillips Auction House

Portuguese daredevil artist Joana Vasconcelos has created a whole host of new pieces for Phillips Auction House's new selling exhibition this summer. Fixated on collective identity, consumer culture and the politics of feminism, Vasconcelos first appeared on our radar in 2005 when her enormous chandelier made of white tampons swung in the Portugal Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. 
Joana Vasconcelos: Versailles, tampons & art
Vasconcelos made waves at Versailles in 2012 with her theatrical installations, including lions covered in white lace napkins and a hanging Mary Poppins suffragette. She even filled with Marie-Antoinette's old bedroom, the woman Vasconcelos credits with being a women's liberation heroine, with a huge cracked egg with strands of brown and blond hair billowing out. Her most famous works are the strange reimagined 18th century candelabras The Bride, made entirely of white tampons, and Carmen which is made of brightly coloured earrings. 
Phillips exhibition highlights
For her exhibition at Phillips London, think Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami when you're wandering around Vasconcelos' strange new world. Enormous fabric sculptures loom overhead from the ongoing Valkyries series - based on the mythical female figures that would fly over battlefields to choose brave fallen Vikings worthy of journeying to Valhalla. There are also spectacular ceramic animals encased in lace, fabric paintings in gorgeous antique frames and geometric sculptures of Portuguese tiles to discover. 
While purchasing a Joana Vasconcelos sculpture might be out of the question, this is a great opportunity to learn more about one of the most exciting contemporary artists around.