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piero manzoni

Do you have a sense of humor?

 

-Part I-

The sense of humour is a sign of intelligence. It is the art of those who model what they see with an elegant satire to make us reflect on deep concepts and existential themes, offering an original and less rigid view of the reality.

Using the sense of humour in a sophisticated and creative way is certainly an art, and the combination of art and humour makes our life more fun and enjoyable.

It all started with Marcel Duchamp and Piero Manzoni, illustrious forerunners of ironic thought and revolutionary ideas that were inspirational for the successive generations of contemporary artists.

Initiator of Dadaism, a leading figure in Surrealism and a precursor of Conceptual Art, Marcel Duchamp (France, 1887 – 1968) challenged social conventions and changed the concept of art by raising objects of common use to real artworks. His irreverent provocations have influenced the avant-garde art and anticipated many artistic movements of the second post-war period.

“Bicycle Wheel”, the first ready-made, dates back to 1913 and its destiny is to change the course of the history of art forever. The decontextualization of common elements provokes an alienating effect and a conceptual distortion: the bicycle wheel has lost its function and the stool on which it is placed is unusable.

The most famous intervention will remain “Fountain” (1917), a male urinal complete with the artist’s signature, the scandalous work caused a great sensation at the time, including in the title all the irony of the genius of the last century.

 

Marcel Duchamp, “Fountain”, 1917 Orinatoio maschile

Marcel Duchamp, “Fountain”, 1917
Male urinal

 

As for provocations, after the famous urinal there is “Artist’s shit” (1961) by Piero Manzoni (Soncino 1933 – Milan 1963) which is the most classic example of an artistic scandal, a work that had even caused a parliamentary question.
Besides the pure “thematic” coincidence, the two artworks cited are a cry of protest, a symptom of a strong reaction against the rules and the prevailing system of the time.
Art, which until then had been a carrier of meanings but mainly decorative and with a strong aesthetic function, now no longer worries about satisfying the sight but of conveying concepts and ideas, even of contestation.
Manzoni redefines the very boundaries of the work of art with an absolutely innovative creative freedom for the time, establishing itself as one of the protagonists of the international avant-garde and as one of the precursors of Conceptual Art. It is part of the informal nuclear movement from 1957 to 1959 and founded the Azimuth magazine with Enrico Castellani (1959-60), with which he also opened the Azimut gallery in Milan.
In the “Artist’s Shit” (“Merda d’artista”), in addition to the irony of the label that takes up the wording of any canned food, the conceptual provocation continues in the price given to the artwork, equivalent to that of gold per gram: in this way Manzoni associates two materials that are totally antithetical to each other but both full of meanings.
The controversy also refers to the art market and the arbitrary aesthetic value given to what is considered a work of art and also addresses the question between content and form.
Same as this work, his other works presuppose the concealment of the work of art, as in the case of the “Lines” (“Linee”), made between 1959 and 1961, which consists of a line drawn on a sheet of paper and its existence and length is certified only by the external label of the cylinder that contains it.
Always characterized by a strong irony and position, his work has embraced multiple forms of art: he took the challenge of happening and performance when he branded hard-boiled eggs to offer to the viewers with his fingerprints in “Consumption of dynamic art by the art-devouring public”.
He autographed the bodies of the models – “Living Sculptures” (1961) – bearing a regular certificate and delivery note, anticipating body art and also creating the largest sculpture in the world – an unbeatable primacy – placing a sort of base / pedestal with a reverse writing that reads: “Socle du monde” (“Base of the world”) (1961).
Today the “Achrome”, series begun in 1957, are in fact his most quoted works. With his monochromes Manzoni exceeds painting and limits his personal intervention: the kaolin-soaked cloth is left to dry letting the material modify itself over time.
The revolutionary significance of a genius, who died early, today is easy to guess, but in the 1950s and 1960s it was perhaps too early to receive the recognition he was due.
Hauser & Wirth dedicated a retrospective to his work – “Piero Manzoni: Lines” – running until 26 July in the New York office where 70 “Achrome” and 12 “Lines” are on display.

 

Piero Manzoni, “Merda d’artista”, 1961 Scatoletta di lattina, carta stampata, feci umane o gesso?

Piero Manzoni, “Merda d’artista”, 1961
Can of tin, printed paper, human faeces or chalk ?

 

Equally provocative and gifted with sense of humour is Salvador Dalì (Spain 1904 – 1989), the greatest exponent of Surrealism, famous also for the eccentric and bizarre personality that has poured into dreamlike works populated by deformed and disturbing animals and objects, fruit of the subconscious of the artist.
His early works are influenced by Cubism, Futurism and De Chirico’s works, to which he will add strong references to Freudian psychoanalysis. Eclectic and ingenious, Dalì has expressed himself in various fields, including cinema, photography and sculpture.
“The persistence of memory” (1931) is the surrealist artwork of excellence, the one with the presence of the famous soft clocks investigates and questions the claim to measure time in an objective and absolute way.
With the director Luis Buñuel he creates avant-garde short films such as “An Andalusian Dog” (1927), before a series of excellent cinematographic and theatrical collaborations: he will collaborate with Alfred Hitchock, Luchino Visconti and Walt Disney.
His unconventional style, his passion for luxury and excess have made him a worldwide celebrity, between unforgettable parties and wild cats kept as pets.
His extravagance has often been immortalized by Man Ray, but the lightness and irony of the Spanish genius are summarized in a photograph taken by Philippe Halsman in 1948: “Dalì Atomicus” – title referring to the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki of 1945 – it is a real explosion that immortalizes flying cats, buckets of water and the artist suspended in mid-air in his intent of painting.
At the Grimaldi Forum in Montecarlo, an exhibition is underway that can be visited until September 8th, which brings together about 100 works covering the whole of his artistic career, from 1910 to 1983.

 

Philippe Halsman, “Dalì Atomicus”

Philippe Halsman, “Dalì Atomicus”, 1948
Silver gelatine print

 

The real trend of humour in the art world develops later with the Pop Art movement, born in England and the United States between the end of 1950 and the beginning of 1960. The concept of art itself is renewed, making it lighter and more ironic thanks to the appearance of flat and lively colours, to the reference to icons of cinema and comics. Pop Art — incisive and immediate — best expresses the collective imagination and the American society of the time, borrowing the language of mass media and advertising.
The cue therefore comes from everyday life and consequently even mass-market mass-produced products become true icons.
Impossible not to think of Campbell Soup cans or Coca Cola bottles reproduced in serigraphs by Andy Warhol (USA 1928 – 1987), according to which art is also consumed like any other product.
Thus reproducibility and obsessive repetition characterize his works which, like mass products – associated with consumerism – reflect American society. A leading exponent of Pop Art and an eccentric personality, Warhol has also made a name for himself for his unconventional lifestyle.

 

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol, “Campbell’s Soup II“, 1969
Serigraphy on paper

 

The theme of reproducibility of the work of art was also at the centre of the research of Roy Lichtenstein (USA 1923 – 1997), another great exponent of the movement: the source of inspiration – the comics – also translates into an interest in the mechanical processes. Lichtenstein implements the inverse process in his works, that is, starting from a copy par excellence (a printed page) he creates an original, revolutionizing the expressive language of the era. During his career, Lichtenstein has explored various themes, some of which are typically American: from the Far West to the artistic expressions of Indians, from the economic boom to oriental landscapes.

 

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein, “In the car“, 1963
Oil on canvas

 

Another great Pop Art performer is Tom Wesselmann (USA 1931 – 2004), famous for his “Great American Nudes”. His stylized and seductive female figures introduce eroticism into movement, at a time when the nude of a woman begins to become an advertising product that no longer makes a stir.
In 1970, Wesselmann exhibited “Bedroom Tit Box”, a box that brought together painted wooden objects. What is striking is the presence of a breast between an ashtray and a bottle of perfume: starting from this still life the artist will begin to depict details of female bodies.
In an interview he said: “Painting, sex and humour are the most important things in my life”.

 

Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann, “Smoker #3 (Mouth #17)”, 1968
Oil on canvas

 

Jeff Koons – eccentric personality and “enfant terrible” of contemporary art – has often been talked about for his controversial choices.
His earliest works date back to the late 1970s but it was in 1980 that Jeff Koons made his debut in the art world: he exhibited at the New Museum the installation “The New” in which he staged some vacuum cleaners, products of consumer goods in which the influence of Andy Warhol is very evident.
The theme of consumerism and the fulfilment of the senses also include the sexual sphere and his pornographic sculptures certainly require a great open-mindedness and a strong sense of humour, even if only to conceive the message.
Some of these are currently on display at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City until September 29th in the review curated by Massimiliano Gioni “Apariencia Desnuda”, and are combined with Duchamp’s works in an unpublished exhibition that highlights the conceptual affinities between the two art giants. They questioned the function of the objects and in both of them there is often a strong eroticism, also found in everyday objects: an evident theme in the voyeuristic work “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, The Large Glass” (1915 – 23) by Duchamp, who considered that desire is a source of creativity, as witnessed also by his alter ego Rrose Sélavy. Recurrent eroticism also in the works of Koons, who caused scandal with the 1991 series “Made in Heaven” created with his wife and porn star Ilona Staller.
It is the first major anthological exhibition presented in South America for both artists and the 80 works on display clarify the points of contact both in the challenge to conventions and in the distortion of the function of common objects.
Jeff Koons is the artist par excellence who has taken over and transformed the enchantment and childhood desire for games into a fetish for adults that reflects the extreme individuality of modern society hidden behind a trivial toy.
He is probably still celebrating the very recent record at auction that he – again – crowned the highest paid living artist in the world. “Rabbit“, a stainless steel sculpture from 1986 was sold last May for $ 91.1 million at a Christie’s auction in New York.

 

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons, “Balloon Dog (Orange)“, 1994-2000
Mirror polished stainless steel with transparent color coating


Damien Hirst
(Bristol 1965), one of the founders of Frieze, is another “enfant terrible” of contemporary art: one of his goals is to amaze and shock the viewers and the public.
Hirst no longer seeks the manual skill of the author of the work of art but tries to convey ideas and create almost a brand, as Andy Warhol had done before him. He takes up the use of everyday objects and from Duchamp the ready-made, but he models and transforms them by transposing them onto living beings.
The leader of the Young British Artists has always focused on the reflections around the theme of death and has been especially noted for the works that have seen animal protagonists in formaldehyde or for the famous diamond-covered skull “For the love of God”, perfect combination of irony and macabre, object of desire and repulsion.
The exorcism of death through medicine took shape in works that reproduce mirrors of medicine with the pills on display as if they were precious stones, signifying an almost sacred admiration for remedies against death but also a reflection on today’s addictions.
Among these, smoking has a prominent place, also due to its close link with death, and it is no coincidence that Hirst has dedicated more than one work to it: among these “Party time” (1995) is a giant ashtray filled with cigarette butts and empty packages, almost a pool to throw yourself into.

 

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst, “Lullaby Summer”, dettaglio, 2002
Glass, stainless steel, aluminium, nickel, bismuth and cast resin, coloured plaster and painted pills with dry transfers

 

On the close symbiosis between art and life, Yayoi Kusama (Japan 1929) has always moved, having lived voluntarily in a mental asylum in Tokyo for about 40 years.
Her works move between madness, fun and genius, thanks to their great power of interaction with the viewer.
She suffered from hallucinations from a young age, visions she transposed into her works, giving the viewers her vision of the world, full of suggestions. Not only obsessively repeated pumpkins and polka dots but also immersive installations such as the “Infinity Mirrors rooms” – rooms covered with mirrors that play with the thousand cross-references between pumpkins, polka dots and the reflected image of the viewers.
Obsessively repeated, the polka dots cover the furnishings of entire rooms or go to decorate tentacles sprouting from the floor and ceiling in installations that everyone likes.

 

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama, “Infinity Mirrored Room – All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins”, 2016
Wood, mirrors, plastic, acrylic and leds

 

Another artist who engages us in a fun way playing with the sense of orientation is Carsten Höller (Brussels 1961), an artist who often creates playful works whose purpose is to activate all 5 senses in the viewers, triggering adrenaline and emotions linked to games. childhood, as in the case of slides.
The artist plays with the disorientation and explores the contradictions within us, as in the case of the work “Upside Down Mushroom” at the Fondazione Prada in Milan, which implements a reversal of reality.

 

Carsten Höller, “Upside Down Mushroom Room”, 2000
Fondazione Prada, Milano

 

Even Paul McCarthy (USA 1945) plays with the senses and with the subconscious of the viewer with provocative, disturbing, politically committed works, which aim at a critique of consumerism and to lay bare our fears and neuroses, unmasking the deceptions that lie behind the promise of the American dream.
Known for his vast and varied production that includes performance, photography, sculpture, film, multimedia installations, drawing and painting; at the beginning of his artistic career he tries to break the limits of painting by using unusual “materials” such as body fluids and food.
McCarthy appropriates icons of popular and childhood culture such as gnomes, Heidi, Santa Claus, Barbie reformulating them in a violent version and playing with the viewer’s subconscious.
Brutal, explicit and often repetitive images cause sensory overload by causing feelings of discomfort and disgust: the artist overcomes any taboo and breaks all social rules.
From the early 1980s McCarthy developed a series of collaborations with Mike Kelley, another artist linked to the counterculture: the synergy between the two leads to the creation of “Heidi”, a 1992 video that depicts the disturbing implications of the famous children’s story.

 

Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy, “White Snow” Dwarf, Bashful”, 2016
Silicone, fiberglass, steel

 

Like McCarthy, Mike Kelley (Detroit 1954 – Los Angeles 2012) has always been interested in American mass culture, examining it thoroughly to reveal hidden contradictions.
He explored various themes such as the relationships between different social classes, sexuality, religion, repressed memories and politics, making an incisive critique and a great deal of self-deprecating humour to these topics.
Especially known for his work with objects that evoke memories related to childhood and adolescence, such as stuffed toys, dolls and school photographs, throughout his career he has explored any type of medium: drawing, sculpture, music, video, shows, photography and painting.
In the project “Educational Complex” (1995) the artist analyses adolescent traumas and criticizes the rigid rules of society and the educational impositions to which we are forced to submit.
Among his best-known works “Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites” (1991-99), very colourful stuffed toys sewn together to form rainbow sculptures that at first glance evoke the magic of childhood.

 

Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley, “Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites“, 1991-1999
Mixed media installation: stuffed animals sewn over wooden and wire mesh frames with styrofoam packing material, fiberglass, car lacquer, metal hardware, nylon rope, pulleys


Claes Oldenburg
(Stockholm 1929) focused on the theme of consumerism and today’s eating habits and is famous throughout the world for monumental and amusing works that reflect a typically American imagery: from the shuttlecock for badminton to bowling pins, from the giant hamburger to the huge ice cream cone that fell on a skyscraper in Cologne.
His works are often strongly linked to the territory where the work is placed, as evidenced by “Ago, filo e nodo” (2000) created in collaboration with Coosje van Bruggen in Piazzale Cadorna in Milan, a tribute to the world of fashion and a clear reference to the underground lines in the colours used for the thread.

 

Claes Oldenburg,

Claes Oldenburg, “Dropped Cone”, Neumarkt Galerie Colonia, Germania, 2001
Stainless and galvanized steels, fibre reinforced plastic, balsa wood, painted with polyester gel coating

 

“The shades of the art rainbow are endless: choose your favorite!”

 

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Robert Ryman, American Master of Minimalism, Passed Away

Robert Ryman, great representative of minimaism, died on Friday 8 February at his home in New York. He was 88 years old.

The fascinating journey of Robert Ryman, a self-taught master, is a perfect embodiment of the American myth of the “self made man”: having arrived in New York with the idea of ​​becoming a jazz musician, he is hired as a security guard at the MoMA where he makes friends with Sol LeWitt and Dan Flavin who will have a great influence on the development of his future research.

Among the halls of the museum, Ryman is passionate about art, particularly impressed by Kazimir Malevich and abstract expressionism by Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Agnes Martin.

From them he takes inspiration when he starts painting in 1955, the year of his first monochrome painting “Untitled (Orange Painting)”, but it is only later that he will begin a systematic investigation insisting on the infinite potential that a single color – white – offers.

The variety of techniques used such as oil, acrylic, casein, tempera, gypsum and enamels, combined with an equally wide variety of supports such as metal, paper, linen and cotton combine to shape each time a different imprint, towards a spasmodic search for the expressive potential of color characterized by artisan quality and rough elegance.

The rigorous investigation of monochrome white on white painting by Robert Ryman nullifies the apparent simplicity of his paintings, aimed at representing infinite variations of painting as a subject in and of itself.

The artist has not always avoided the use of color that, especially at the beginning of his career, has been hidden under a more superficial layer of white, a recovery of the visible/invisible binomial that refers to an underlying reality that is not perceptible, the concept subsequently used also by other artists.

Robert Ryman, Untitled

1961

 

The relationship between painting and light was at the center of the research that led Ryman to the conviction that every single detail contributes to the experience of the viewer and that each work interacts with the surrounding environment, especially with the wall (usually white) and with light.

Let us remember that in parallel also in Europe a revolutionary artistic movement was born with some similar needs, open to a radical change in the use of monochrome – often white, materials, interaction of lights and shadows: Gruppo Zero, a movement to which great Italian artists like Piero adhered Manzoni, Lucio Fontana and Enrico Castellani.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome

1958-59

 

Robert Ryman had his first solo show in 1967 at the Bianchini Gallery in New York followed by an important Solo Show at the Guggenheim NY in 1972; has repeatedly participated in the Venice Biennials and the Whitney Biennals, as well as important solo and group exhibitions all over the world.

In 1993, exactly 40 years after being hired as a security guard, a large retrospective dedicated to the artist was organized at the MoMA.

 

“The real purpose of painting is to give pleasure”

Robert Ryman

 

“The shades of the art rainbow are endless: choose your favorite!”

London Auctions October 2018

The London autumn art week has ended, including Frieze, collateral fairs, many appointments and contemporary art auctions.

 

STRUGGLING FOR THE PLACE OF CHRISTIE’S AND CONTEMPORARY ART

4-5 OCTOBER 2018

AUCTION of at 4 OCTOBER EVENING. Total sales: £ 84,610,000 including premium.

AUCTION at 5 OCTOBER DAY. Total sales: £ 20,844,000 including premium.

For this auction session, Christie has fielded several lots of the highest quality. The highest expectation is the “Figure in Movement” canvas dated 1972 by Francis Bacon, on the cover of the catalogue, which from an estimate of £ 15,000,000-20,000,000 was sold for £ 19,921,250 including premium. The work came from the private collection of Magnus Konow and portrays George Dyer, Bacon’s muse and lover who died of an overdose shortly after the creation of this canvas that had always remained in the Konow’s collection.

Francis Bacon, Figure in Movement, 1972

Oil and dry transfer writing on canvas

198 x 148 cm

 

Jean Dubuffet also performed well with “Lady in Garden”, oil and collage on canvas from 1956, which from an estimate of £ 2,500,000-3,500,000 was sold at £ 4,508,000 including interest.

Jean Dubuffet, Lady in Garden, 1956

Oil and collage on canvas

148 x 120 cm

 

Also good for Keith Haring’s great work “Untitled” of 1984, given an estimate of £ 3,000,000-5,000,000, it was sold at £ 3,946,250 including interest.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1984

Acrylic on canvas, work in 4 parts

Total dimensions: 304.8 x 304.8 cm

 

Record for “Bull with Hole”, oil and resin on canvas of 1986 by Albert Oehlen, estimated £ 800,000-1,200,000 reached the amount of £ 3,608,750 thus exceeding the record of 2.9 million reached in 2017.

Albert Oehlen, Bull with Hole, 1986

Oil and resin on canvas, Diptych

Single canvas size: 187.6 x 188.3 cm

Total dimensions: 187.6 x 376.6 cm

 

Hurvin Anderson who with the oil on canvas of the 2003 “Country Club” adventured on £ 2,048,750 including interest, from an estimate of 1,000,000-1,500,000 £.

Hurvin Anderson, Country Club, 2003

Oil painting on canvas

162 x 265 cm

 

At the Lot 49 we find another work by Francis Bacon, “Painted Screen “, three panels joined by iron hinges of 1929 estimated at £ 700,000-1,000,000, which doubled and exceeded the highest estimate reaching £ 2,408,000 including interest.

Francis Bacon, Painted Screen, about 1929

Oil on plywood with metal hinges

Each panel: 183 x 61 x 2.8 cm

Total dimensions: 183 x 183 x 2.8 cm

 

Very good for the Turin artist Aldo Mondino, who on the occasion of his 70th birth anniversary marks the new record during the First World War and contemporary art auction with “Tappeti Stesi” (Carpets), the work of 1989, sold for £ 68,750 including interest. The starting estimate was £ 30,000-50,000 (Lot 343).

The Tappeti Stesi are wall compositions that entered Eraclite between the 80s and 90s and include one of the most famous cycles among those unleashed by the artist, fascinated by Middle Eastern culture.

Aldo Mondino, Tappeti Stesi, 1989

Acrylic on compressed chipboard, Diptych

Overall dimensions: 250 x 200 cm

 

Disappointment instead for “Skull”, oil on canvas of 1983 by Gerhard Richter published on the second cover, which remained unsold for 11.5 million pounds (estimate on request).

Same fate also for Jeff Koons’ “Cracked egg (blue)”, unsold 8.5 million pounds: it started from an estimate of 10,000,000-15,000,000 pounds.

Gerhard Richter, Skull, 1983

Oil painting on canvas

80.4 x 65 cm

 

Jeff Koons, Cracked Egg (blue), 1994-2006

One of the unique works of a series of 5

Mirror polished steel with transparent coating

165.1 x 159.1 x 159.1 cm

100 x 159.1 x 159.1 cm

 

Even “Still life with Zimmerlinde”, an unusual subject by Lucian Freud, remains unsold at £ 750,000 being above the maximum rating of £ 600,000.

Lucian Freud, Still life with Zimmerlinde, about 1950

Oil painting on canvas

25 x 21.5 cm

 

Withdrawal from the auction for Georg Baselitz’s 11 oils on canvas, estimated between 6 and 10 million pounds.

 

CHRISTIE’S THINKING ITALIAN

OCTOBER 4, 2018

Total sales: £ 40,408,000 including premium.

Thinking of Christie’s Italian, the first edition represents the evolution of Italian sales, a format that for the first time in 20 years has not been renewed by Sotheby’s, which has chosen to include art in art. October 5 and 6.

The evening with Christie, also packed with Italian collectors and operators, continued with a catalogue of the highest level made up of 37 important works ranging from Futurism to Arte Povera: many and predictable relaunched during the auction.

Learn more about the price achieved by the rare work “Space concept, The end of God” of 1963 which, starting at £ 12.5 million, was sold to an anonymous telephone collector for £ 17,108,750 including interest. The estimate was on demand, around £ 17 million. With this release “Spatial concept, The end of God” has become the second best-selling work at auction by Lucio Fontana.

The work had already gone up for auction in 2013 from Christie’s in New York and had reached £ 13 million on that occasion.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, The end of God, 1963

Oil and glitter on canvas

178 x 123 cm

“Spatial Concept” of 1953, a delicate and beautiful composition in oil and glass on canvas on the cover of the catalogue, reaches £ 1,832,750, interest included from a starting estimate of £ 1,600,000-2,500,000.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, 1953

Oil and glass on canvas

60 x 73 cm

 

The second work by price made is a “Achrome” by Manzoni from 1957-58 which was included in the Contemporary Art section and which was then moved to “Think Italian” (Lot 119A). The canvas made £ 3,608,750 including interest from an estimate of £ 3,000,000-5,000,000.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1957-58

Kaolin on canvas

61 x 81 cm

 

Another Manzoni’s “Achrome” dated 1958-59 (Lot 118) touched the amount of £ 1,928,750 interest included from an estimate of £ 1,000,000-1,500,000.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1958-59

Kaolin on canvas

60 x 80 cm

 

The other protagonists of this part of the evening were the Italian artists who imposed attention by setting some records.

 

Salvatore Scarpitta realized for £ 1,808,750 interest included with the work of 1960 from the Leo Castelli’s gallery “Alta Sposa”, starting estimate £ 1,000,000-1,500,000.

Salvatore Scarpitta, High Bride, 1960

Bandages on mixed supports on canvas

152.5 x 102 cm

 

Maria Lai’s work “Sheet” of 1989 from an estimate of £ 20,000-30,000 flied to £ 150,000 including interest, far exceeding the previous record of € 32,000 in 2015.

Maria Lai, Sheet, 1989

Thread and fabric embroidered on fabric

141.7 x 230 cm

 

Alberto Savinio also flied high with “Croix marine”, oil on canvas from 1929 estimated at £ 600,000-800,000 and sold for £ 692,000 including premium.

Alberto Savinio, Croix Marine, 1929

Oil painting on canvas

73 x 92 cm

 

“Great mutilation”, sculpture more than two meters high dated 1962 by Leoncillo, reached £ 728,750 including interest (estimate £ 350,000-500,000) and thus exceeded the € 283,000 record of the Christie’s auction in Milan in April 2018.

Leoncillo, Great mutilation, 1962

Stoneware and glaze

218 x 39 x 39 cm

 

Alberto Burri with “Sacco Nero Rosso” of 1957 reached £ 980,750 including interest from an estimate of £ 450,000-600,000.

Alberto Burri, Sacco Nero Rosso, 1957

Sackcloth, acrylic, plastic burning and vinavil on fabric

38 x 46 cm

 

Another nice surprise was Carol Rama, who with “Untitled”, a work of 1977, managed to double the estimate of £ 60,000-80,000 to reach £ 175,000 including interest.

Carol Rama, untitled, 1977

Tissue paper, tire, pastel, tempera, cotton thread and metal hook on soft top canvas

130.5 x 75 cm

 

Gino Severini with “Portrait de l’auteur” of 1916, displayed the £ 908,000 interest included from the estimate of £ 700,000-1,000,000.

Gino Severini, Portrait de l’auteur, 1916

Oil painting on canvas

100.3 x 74.3 cm

 

There were surprises among the unsold, including two Fontana’s works: red “Spatial Concept, Waiting” (Lot 125) and white “Spatial Concept, Waiting” (Lot 129).

 

SOTHEBY’S EVENING AUCTION

The David Teiger collection and Contemporary Art achieved the total revenue of £ 69,787,000 including premia, against the high estimate of £ 73.5 million.

SOTHEBY’S THE HISTORY OF NOW: DAVID TEIGER’S COLLECTION

OCTOBER 5, 2018

Total sales: £ 35,921,100 including premia.

Sotheby’s opened the auction session with 25 works mainly by contemporary artists from the collection of David Teiger, almost all of them getting a somewhat lower value than expected.

The evening was opened by the artist’s record reached by “Wants to see it all”, a work of 2002, by Kai Althoff, which from the estimate of £ 80,000 – 120,000 got £ 574,000 including interest, after a long battle between collectors on the phone.

Kai Althoff, Wants to see it all, 2002

Paint, tempera and paper on canvas, edged with iron

50.2 x 60 cm

 

No twists and turns until Lot 6, when “Propped”, oil on canvas of 1992 by Jenny Saville, chosen for the catalogue cover and estimated £ 3,000,000-4,000,000, came with a £ 9,537,250 including premium, after a long phone battle between collectors marking the record for a living woman artist. This result reflects competition, and the competition in the role of women in art.

This large canvas, which made Saville famous thanks to the exhibition “Sensation” held in 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts, was owned by the magnate Charles Saatchi, and it revolutionizes the traditional representation of the woman’s body.

Jenny Saville, Propped, 1992

Oil painting on canvas

213.4 x 182.9 cm

 

“Station Buffalo I “, oil on canvas dated 1997-1998, reached £ 7,561,500 including premium from the estimate of £ 6,000,000-8,000,000.

With the same estimate, according to the characteristics of the former in terms of subject, data, size, and technique, the result was different for ” Station Buffalo II”, which was sold at the price of £ 4,513,000. Probably this second work by Doig went to the third party guarantor, who had ensured the painting.

Peter Doig, Buffalo Station I, 1997-98

Oil painting on canvas

175.3 x 269.9 cm

Peter Doig, Buffalo Station II, 1997-98

Oil painting on canvas

175.3 x 269.9 cm

 

Not very good however for “Minerva”, oil on canvas by John Currin, which first remained unsold and was then put up for auction again at only £ 370,000, included, in a starting forecast of £ 800,000 – £ 1,200,000.

John Currin, Minerva, 2000

Oil painting on canvas

71.1 x 55.9 cm

 

SOTHEBY’S EVENING CONTEMPORARY ART AND DAY AUCTION

5-6 OCTOBER 2018

EVENING AUCTION 5 OCTOBER: Total sales: £ 33,865,900, including premiа.

DAY AUCTION 6 OCTOBER: Total sales: £ 14,008,500, including premiа.

After the Teiger collection, the evening continued at Sotheby’s with 40 lots of Contemporary Art.

The undisputed star of all the international press was Banksy’s work, which suddenly destroyed itself after being sold for £ 1,042,000, including interest. “Girl with Ballon”, made in 2006, was the last lot of the auction and was estimated at £ 200,000-300,000. Shortly after the time, the mechanism hidden inside the frame activated and the work of the artist from Bristol was shredded in small strips. The bewildering and surprising performance immediately made Banksy claimed on social media. The value of the work has been exceeded with regards to marketing and resonance it made.

Banksy, Girl with Baloon, 2006

Spray paint and acrylic on canvas, mounted on a frame by the artist

101 x 78 x 18 cm

 

Part of Banksy’s unexpected performance were a few twists in this auction session. Hence two works by Georg Baselitz that far exceed expectations: “Ohne Titel” of 1966 from an estimate of £ 450,000-650,000 reached £ 1,150,000 including interest; while “Kopfkissen”, oil on canvas of 1987, took the figure of £ 1,450,000, the starting estimate was £ 40,000-600,000.

Georg Baselitz, Ohne Titel (Der Neue Typ), 1966

Tempera, ink and pastel on paper

39.1 x 26 cm

Excellent result for Adrian Ghenie’s “Boogeyman” dated 2010, which from an estimate of £ 2,000,000-3,000,000 flied to £ 4,851,900 including premium.

Adrian Ghenie, Boogeyman, 2010

Oil painting on canvas

200 x 335 cm

 

Among the unsold, some also present some excellent names, such as a “Spatial Concept, Expectations” by Lucio Fontana, a Castellani “Troika” and two Kapoor “Parabolic Mirror, Asagi” and “Untitled”.

“Again and again”, Kaws acrylic on canvas depicting the cartoon character Sponge Bob, set a record and a Taiwanese dealer was awarded after a long telephone battle, flying from the estimate of £ 250,000-350,000 to £ 1,030,000 interest included.

Kaws, again and again, 2008

Acrylic on canvas

172.8 x 172.8 cm

 

PHILLIPS SHAPE & SPACE: NEW CERAMIC PRESENCE

5 OCTOBER

Total sales: £ 2,493,250 including premia.

The Phillips auction house, in addition to being increasingly attentive to and publishes photography (auction on 4 October), dedicates an entire session to ceramics intended to strengthen the dialogue between art, design and craftsmanship.

Ceramics, a technique traditionally placed among the decorative arts, is now viewed with renewed interest also by the so-called “emerging” collectors. With a private auction, Phillips captured the public’s attention by presenting the material in a completely different light.

The new interest in ceramic artists had already emerged in New York last December during the evening design auction when the work “Rondena” by Peter Voulkos, sculpture of powerful dimensions, set a record for an American ceramic artist totalling $ 915,000, premium included, $ 400,000 beyond its high rating.

As we saw in the Christie’s Thinking Italian auction on October 4, the excellent result achieved by Leoncillo is the market trend: the “Great Mutilation” stoneware sculpture was sold at £ 728,750 against a high estimate of £ 500,000.

On the occasion of the autumn auction of Phillips, the curator Francesco Bonami proposed 32 works both modern and contemporary signed by Fontana, Ai Weiwei, Fausto Melotti, Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein followed by other lesser-known masters who worked in this material.

 

DESIGN FOR SALE, NEW YORK, EVENING AUCTION, DECEMBER 12, 2017

Total sales: $ 6,198,625 including premia

Peter Voulkos, Rondena, 1958

Porcelain stoneware, brushed cobalt, iron, epoxy resin

157.5 x 95.9 x 82.6 cm

Estimate: $ 300,000-500,000

Sold for $ 915,000, including premium

 

Lucio Fontana, Horse, 1935-36

59.5 x 79.5 x 46 cm

Estimate: £ 400,000- £ 600,000

Sold for £ 549,000, including premium

 

Roy Lichtenstein, Ceramic Sculpture # 10, 1965

21.6 x 22.5 x 21.6 cm

Estimate: £ 250,000-350,000

Sold for £ 309,000 prize included

 

Ai Weiwei, He Xie, 2010

Variable dimensions

Estimate: £ 400,000- £ 600,000

Sold for £ 609,000 including premium

 

Pablo Picasso, Hibou (Owl), 1975

34 x 20 x 4 cm

Estimate: £ 50,000-70,000

Sold for £ 93,750 including premium

 

Fausto Melotti, Female Figure, about 1950

Height 21.7 cm

Estimate: £ 40,000-60,000

Sold at £ 56,250 prize included

 

“The shades of the art rainbow are endless: choose your favorite!”