Ellie Goulding: top pop star turned Sotheby’s curator

UK pop star Ellie Goulding, known for catchy tunes such as Burn, has turned curator, selecting her favourite pieces for the upcoming Contemporary Curated auction at Sotheby's New York (2 March). Ellie has chosen 15 works from across the sale’s 250 lots, along with her partner Caspar Jopling, the Eton-educated, Sotheby’s contemporary art specialist (and incidentally, a rower for team GB). Their selection—including Jasper Johns’s Untitled (1983; est $1.5m-$2m) and George Condo’s Rainy Day Butler (2012; est $800,000-$1.2m)—goes on show in an exhibition launching today at Sotheby’s New York (until 1 March). “Spending much of her time between recording studios in London and New York or performing concerts on the global stage, Ellie somehow still finds the time to visit museums and gallery shows most weekends,” says a pithy Sotheby’s statement. And it continues: “In the first week of December last year, Ellie travelled between three continents; starting in Kenya on an environmental mission for the UN Foundation, she then flew to Miami for Art Basel [Miami Beach] where she performed for an intimate party and spent the days walking the fair with Caspar.”