2000
See also : Japan and Korea Canada Modern India Sculpture Koons Children Sport in art Animals Photo Photos after 1990 Far West
2000 Celebration and Joy with Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD 58 M$ including premium
The series of the "Celebrations" was designed by Jeff Koons in 1994. The first themes, in five monochrome sculptures each made in a different color, cover universal symbols. Their monumental size invites to exhibition in prestigious locations. The perfect mirror of the surface is a technical feat.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
2000 The Threat of the Millennials
2019 SOLD for HK$ 196M including premium
In 2000 Yoshitomo Nara returns to Japan after twelve years in Germany. His style changes. The heads of little girls are replaced by full length standing portraits. The dimensions of the works increase, the outlines are less black and pastel hues soften the image.
Yoshitomo Nara does not want his art to be political. Yet it was in 2000, inspired by his recent visit to Auschwitz. The children of this era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. The titles transcribe this imaginary revolt : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, The Little ambassador.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas will be sold on October 6 by Sotheby's in Hong Kong, lot 1142.
The other two examples referred above, also painted in 2000, are taken from auction history. The Little ambassador, 198 x 132 cm, was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016. Last warrior, 165 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 21.7M including premium by Phillips on May 28, 2017 .
This Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea. The character soon loses his aggressiveness and smiles gently. Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017.
Yoshitomo Nara does not want his art to be political. Yet it was in 2000, inspired by his recent visit to Auschwitz. The children of this era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. The titles transcribe this imaginary revolt : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, The Little ambassador.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas will be sold on October 6 by Sotheby's in Hong Kong, lot 1142.
The other two examples referred above, also painted in 2000, are taken from auction history. The Little ambassador, 198 x 132 cm, was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016. Last warrior, 165 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 21.7M including premium by Phillips on May 28, 2017 .
This Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea. The character soon loses his aggressiveness and smiles gently. Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017.
2000 Jeff Koons loves Flowers
2008 SOLD 12.9 M£ including premium
Jeff Koons loves flowers. I am not the only one to say it, this opinion is also available in the catalogue of Christie's, at the number 12 from the sale of June 30 in London. Accordingly, the artist expressed this view in 2003: "I have always enjoyed flowers."
Coming from a private collection of Dallas, here is a Balloon Flower (Magenta), dated 1995-2000, of towering dimensions (340 x 285 x 260 cm). The photo in the catalog shows this thing simply laying on water in a park. The work is currently visible in St. James's Square, until the day before the sale.
Jeff Koons does not enjoy flowers only. He also enjoys that his main works display symbolic forms unequivocally recognizable by fans of all countries. He certainly also loves money, and everyone knows that monumental works reach the highest prices by far. These are indeed even higher when their colors are bright to be violent, and when their surface is shiny.
He performs this type of work in several copies, each in a different single color.
On 14 November last year, Sotheby's has sold for $ 23.5 million fees included a Hanging Heart Magenta / Gold, a work of 296 x 216 x 102 cm executed in five versions and dated 1994-2006 in chromium stainless steel covered with a transparent colored coating. Despite its huge dimensions, that heart is designed to be hanged, and it is this lightness of a monster that had been admired by specialists of Sotheby's, in a remarkable video that preceded the sale. The heart is decorated with gilded brass knots that look a bit like a gift package. As a coincidence, Balloon Flower is made of similar materials and also in five colors.
The day before, November 13, 2007, Christie's had sold for $ 11.8 million fees included a Diamond (Blue) of similar dates and materials, measuring 198 x 220 x 220 cm.
Unless a violent speculative effect, our Balloon Flower, static and less embellished, will not reach the price of Hanging Heart. The catalogue does not provide estimate, but it was sufficient to open the press release of June 10 to know that it is expected in the region of £ 12 million. We may find curious that this work of an American artist belonging to an American owner comes in London for being sold. I am told that London is closer to the Russian buyers than New York.
Christie's has provided a guarantee to the seller.
POST SALE COMMENT
Those who say that the market for contemporary art is unpredictable are wrong. Our Balloon Flower was sold £ 12.9 million charge included. This result is extremely close to the confidential estimate that I had the pleasure to tell you!
There is a much more interesting fact: Christie's says that this price is $ 25.6 million. In the 10% range, this price is the same as the Hanging Heart. I had shown above that these two works had many common features.
Coming from a private collection of Dallas, here is a Balloon Flower (Magenta), dated 1995-2000, of towering dimensions (340 x 285 x 260 cm). The photo in the catalog shows this thing simply laying on water in a park. The work is currently visible in St. James's Square, until the day before the sale.
Jeff Koons does not enjoy flowers only. He also enjoys that his main works display symbolic forms unequivocally recognizable by fans of all countries. He certainly also loves money, and everyone knows that monumental works reach the highest prices by far. These are indeed even higher when their colors are bright to be violent, and when their surface is shiny.
He performs this type of work in several copies, each in a different single color.
On 14 November last year, Sotheby's has sold for $ 23.5 million fees included a Hanging Heart Magenta / Gold, a work of 296 x 216 x 102 cm executed in five versions and dated 1994-2006 in chromium stainless steel covered with a transparent colored coating. Despite its huge dimensions, that heart is designed to be hanged, and it is this lightness of a monster that had been admired by specialists of Sotheby's, in a remarkable video that preceded the sale. The heart is decorated with gilded brass knots that look a bit like a gift package. As a coincidence, Balloon Flower is made of similar materials and also in five colors.
The day before, November 13, 2007, Christie's had sold for $ 11.8 million fees included a Diamond (Blue) of similar dates and materials, measuring 198 x 220 x 220 cm.
Unless a violent speculative effect, our Balloon Flower, static and less embellished, will not reach the price of Hanging Heart. The catalogue does not provide estimate, but it was sufficient to open the press release of June 10 to know that it is expected in the region of £ 12 million. We may find curious that this work of an American artist belonging to an American owner comes in London for being sold. I am told that London is closer to the Russian buyers than New York.
Christie's has provided a guarantee to the seller.
POST SALE COMMENT
Those who say that the market for contemporary art is unpredictable are wrong. Our Balloon Flower was sold £ 12.9 million charge included. This result is extremely close to the confidential estimate that I had the pleasure to tell you!
There is a much more interesting fact: Christie's says that this price is $ 25.6 million. In the 10% range, this price is the same as the Hanging Heart. I had shown above that these two works had many common features.
2000 The African American Dream
2013 SOLD 8 M$ including premium
David Hammons was a student at the time of the struggles that culminated in 1968 with the prohibition of racial discrimination in the United States. He will forever be a social activist.
He provides his artistic message by assembling various objects ranging from foil to trash. He does not accept the established bourgeois system of art galleries, preferring the street and not hesitating to provoke happenings.
Basketball is one of his recurring themes. He hates basketball because it seems to offer to the teenagers an outlet to fame and wealth that, for almost all of them, is only an illusion.
In 2000, Hammons executed three assemblies where the basketball panel is reused as a support for a suite of chandeliers, a luxury furnishing out of our time and socially incongruous.
One of these assemblies of fake luxury, 196 x 221 x 64 cm, illuminated by light bulbs within the chandeliers, is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Phillips in New York on November 11.
I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house on Vimeo.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price, $ 8M including premium, in the region of the higher estimate. I had not seen a similar artwork in auction databases and the result was not a foregone conclusion, especially for an artist out of the system.
He provides his artistic message by assembling various objects ranging from foil to trash. He does not accept the established bourgeois system of art galleries, preferring the street and not hesitating to provoke happenings.
Basketball is one of his recurring themes. He hates basketball because it seems to offer to the teenagers an outlet to fame and wealth that, for almost all of them, is only an illusion.
In 2000, Hammons executed three assemblies where the basketball panel is reused as a support for a suite of chandeliers, a luxury furnishing out of our time and socially incongruous.
One of these assemblies of fake luxury, 196 x 221 x 64 cm, illuminated by light bulbs within the chandeliers, is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Phillips in New York on November 11.
I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house on Vimeo.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price, $ 8M including premium, in the region of the higher estimate. I had not seen a similar artwork in auction databases and the result was not a foregone conclusion, especially for an artist out of the system.
2000 A Mystical Insomnia of Damien Hirst
2017 SOLD for $ 5.9M including premium
During his studies Damien Hirst works temporarily in a mortuary. He is shocked by the transition between life and death. As an artist he paradoxically devotes his work to this phenomenon which he does not understand. The titles of his artworks insinuate around this theme.
The drug accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have think for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18 in New York, Phillips sells one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8 estimated $ 5M. Made in 2000, it is gigantic: 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void.
Lullaby Winter, 72 x 108 x 4 cm, made in 2002, was sold for $ 7.4M including premium by Christie's on May 16, 2007. Fragments of Paradise, 183 x 276 x 10 cm, made in 2008, was sold for £ 5.2M including premium by Sotheby's on September 15, 2008 in the auction specially curated with Hirst under the title Beautiful inside my head forever.
Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
The drug accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have think for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18 in New York, Phillips sells one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8 estimated $ 5M. Made in 2000, it is gigantic: 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void.
Lullaby Winter, 72 x 108 x 4 cm, made in 2002, was sold for $ 7.4M including premium by Christie's on May 16, 2007. Fragments of Paradise, 183 x 276 x 10 cm, made in 2008, was sold for £ 5.2M including premium by Sotheby's on September 15, 2008 in the auction specially curated with Hirst under the title Beautiful inside my head forever.
Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
2000 The Diaphanous Happiness of Agnes Martin
2015 SOLD for £ 2.84M including premium
Influenced by Zen, Agnes Martin finds joy in the contemplation of the desert in Taos. She shares it through her paintings made of grids of equidistant lines. The surface appearance, plain but not strictly monochrome, expresses her vision of the dune, the beach or the mountain. She wraps the viewer in her art and readily admits that her work belongs to abstract expressionism.
Agnes Martin restarted her work in her later life with another pattern. The canvas is prepared with a gesso that will bring the luminosity. The horizontal bands drawn freehand with pencil are replacing the grid and define alternative areas of diaphanous colors, mostly pink and blue.
It is a rare case of an artist who was able to go up to the ultimate in her search and expression of happiness. Although her technique is different, she is close to the art of Gaitonde who had himself been influenced by Rothko.
The titles now express feelings. Loving love, 152 x 152 cm, painted in Taos in 2000 when the artist was 88 years old, was sold for £ 2.1 million including premium by Christie's on July 1, 2014. The stripes are of uniform width, except that the two central ones are blue, accentuating the impression of symmetry.
An untitled work made in the same year or maybe the year before in the same format is estimated £ 2.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 15, lot 7. The pink stripes are twice wider than the blue.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Agnes Martin restarted her work in her later life with another pattern. The canvas is prepared with a gesso that will bring the luminosity. The horizontal bands drawn freehand with pencil are replacing the grid and define alternative areas of diaphanous colors, mostly pink and blue.
It is a rare case of an artist who was able to go up to the ultimate in her search and expression of happiness. Although her technique is different, she is close to the art of Gaitonde who had himself been influenced by Rothko.
The titles now express feelings. Loving love, 152 x 152 cm, painted in Taos in 2000 when the artist was 88 years old, was sold for £ 2.1 million including premium by Christie's on July 1, 2014. The stripes are of uniform width, except that the two central ones are blue, accentuating the impression of symmetry.
An untitled work made in the same year or maybe the year before in the same format is estimated £ 2.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 15, lot 7. The pink stripes are twice wider than the blue.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
2000 The Fall of the Fat Ox
2018 SOLD for INR 20 crores including premium (worth US$ 3.2M)
An untitled canvas 183 x 152 cm painted by Tyeb Mehta in 2000 was sold for $ 2.3M including premium by Christie's on March 18, 2014, lot 230. It had been discussed in this column before the sale.
It is estimated INR 14 crores worth US $ 2.26M by AstaGuru online from Mumbai, lot 41 closing on March 27. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
This artwork brings together the two preferred themes of the artist, the bull and the fall.
Disgusted in his youth by the death of oxen in the slaughterhouses, Mehta takes the bovine as the symbol of the vanity of the mankind, from the tortured innocence to the most crazy violence for which the beast takes the features of the demon-buffalo Mahishasura in fight with Durga.
More recent in his art the theme of the fall appears in the late 1980s. A bull or bird is tightly entwined with a human being in a hopeless weightlessness.
In the painting coming for sale the bovine is fat and strangely peaceful, upturned body and four legs upwards. It has no eyes, as blind as the cut head placed in front of Durga in other compositions. A leg and the tail are interchanged. Two hands coming out from below are the only human attributes in this almost invisible embrace.
In this wide range of behaviors the fate for butchery becomes dominant at the end of the artist's career. A diptych made in 2005/2007 displays in each 198 x 152 cm element the silhouette of a beef cut in three pieces. It was sold for $ 2.8M including premium by Christie's on March 23, 2011.
It is estimated INR 14 crores worth US $ 2.26M by AstaGuru online from Mumbai, lot 41 closing on March 27. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
This artwork brings together the two preferred themes of the artist, the bull and the fall.
Disgusted in his youth by the death of oxen in the slaughterhouses, Mehta takes the bovine as the symbol of the vanity of the mankind, from the tortured innocence to the most crazy violence for which the beast takes the features of the demon-buffalo Mahishasura in fight with Durga.
More recent in his art the theme of the fall appears in the late 1980s. A bull or bird is tightly entwined with a human being in a hopeless weightlessness.
In the painting coming for sale the bovine is fat and strangely peaceful, upturned body and four legs upwards. It has no eyes, as blind as the cut head placed in front of Durga in other compositions. A leg and the tail are interchanged. Two hands coming out from below are the only human attributes in this almost invisible embrace.
In this wide range of behaviors the fate for butchery becomes dominant at the end of the artist's career. A diptych made in 2005/2007 displays in each 198 x 152 cm element the silhouette of a beef cut in three pieces. It was sold for $ 2.8M including premium by Christie's on March 23, 2011.
2000 Cowboy by Richard Prince
2014 SOLD for $ 3.1M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
2000 Children against War
2017 SOLD for HK$ 21.7M including premium
The children illustrated by Yoshitomo Nara combine with their innocent physiognomy the threats and angers of the adults. Just like the boy photographed in Central Park by Diane Arbus, they are not dangerous. They help to question the real social issues of our time.
In 2000 Yoshitomo Nara visited Auschwitz just before leaving Germany where he had lived since 1988 and had completed his art studies. He understands that his characters can raise their voices to demand that all wars be avoided.
On May 28 in Hong Kong, Phillips sells the portrait of a little girl whose dual title is unambiguous : Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier. It is estimated HK $ 20M, lot 11.
This acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm painted in 2000 confirms that beyond his inspiration from the manga the artist completely masters the Western techniques. On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
This artwork has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Entitled fairly The Little Ambassador, this painting 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016.
In 2000 Yoshitomo Nara visited Auschwitz just before leaving Germany where he had lived since 1988 and had completed his art studies. He understands that his characters can raise their voices to demand that all wars be avoided.
On May 28 in Hong Kong, Phillips sells the portrait of a little girl whose dual title is unambiguous : Last Warrior / The Unknown Soldier. It is estimated HK $ 20M, lot 11.
This acrylic on canvas 165 x 150 cm painted in 2000 confirms that beyond his inspiration from the manga the artist completely masters the Western techniques. On a light background of great brightness the skin and dress are ethereal, contrasting with the mouth and eyes which express the message. The mouth is authoritarian and stubborn and the divergent strabismus does not invite to negotiation.
This artwork has a sequel that provides the key to the artist's hope. The child's attitude is almost identical with three exceptions : a hand appears to offer a single two-leaf seedling, the mouth loses its twist in favor of an expression of seriousness and the strabismus has been offset. Entitled fairly The Little Ambassador, this painting 198 x 133 cm was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016.
2000 The Fire Trails of Cai Guo-Qiang
2007 SOLD for HK$ 20.5M including premium by Sotheby's
2018 UNSOLD
PRE 2018 SALE DISCUSSION
When he launched his Projects for Extraterrestrials in 1990, Cai Guo-Qiang was paradoxically a humanist who wanted to symbolically destroy the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Artist and pyrotechnician, he uses fire both for its creative and destructive characteristics in his Land Art.
The No. 10 is his most important achievement of that phase, and the only one made at that time on Chinese land. The Great Wall acquired the reputation of being the only monument visible from space. Its western end is at the entrance to the Gobi Desert. Cai installs in these dry dunes an undulating trail interspersed with pyrotechnic cartridges, under the title Project to extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 meters.
The happening took place on February 27, 1993 for 40,000 human spectators and an unidentified alien population. The fire takes fifteen minutes to extend over its 10 Km trail, offering in the dusk the vision of an extraordinary dragon.
Same as Christo, Cai makes preparatory drawings and reproductions for the trade. In 2000 the Taipei National Museum of History commissioned a drawing of his Project No. 10 for an exhibition on the Great Wall. This new pyrotechnic happening on ink and gunpowder is performed on five adjacent papers for a total size of 3 x 20 m.
This artwork was sold for HK $ 20.5M including premium by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 7, 2007. It returns in the same auction room on March 31, lot 1065 estimated HK $ 15M. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The artificer artist continues to advance his humanist vision. In 2015 he set fire in a superb 80-second happening to a 500-meter ladder rising to the sky, suspended to an invisible weather balloon.
When he launched his Projects for Extraterrestrials in 1990, Cai Guo-Qiang was paradoxically a humanist who wanted to symbolically destroy the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Artist and pyrotechnician, he uses fire both for its creative and destructive characteristics in his Land Art.
The No. 10 is his most important achievement of that phase, and the only one made at that time on Chinese land. The Great Wall acquired the reputation of being the only monument visible from space. Its western end is at the entrance to the Gobi Desert. Cai installs in these dry dunes an undulating trail interspersed with pyrotechnic cartridges, under the title Project to extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 meters.
The happening took place on February 27, 1993 for 40,000 human spectators and an unidentified alien population. The fire takes fifteen minutes to extend over its 10 Km trail, offering in the dusk the vision of an extraordinary dragon.
Same as Christo, Cai makes preparatory drawings and reproductions for the trade. In 2000 the Taipei National Museum of History commissioned a drawing of his Project No. 10 for an exhibition on the Great Wall. This new pyrotechnic happening on ink and gunpowder is performed on five adjacent papers for a total size of 3 x 20 m.
This artwork was sold for HK $ 20.5M including premium by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 7, 2007. It returns in the same auction room on March 31, lot 1065 estimated HK $ 15M. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The artificer artist continues to advance his humanist vision. In 2015 he set fire in a superb 80-second happening to a 500-meter ladder rising to the sky, suspended to an invisible weather balloon.
2000 Inside the Grand Hotel
2015 SOLD for £ 1.1M including premium
Architecture had inspired Andreas Gursky from his beginnings. Increasingly massive structures reduce mankind to dwarfism.
'Shanghai' is a photograph made in 2000. The copy 4/6 in c-print on Plexiglas 302 x 207 cm in an artist's frame was sold for £ 290K including premium by Sotheby's in London on 25 June 2009. It is listed again in the same auction room on July 1, lot 49 estimated £ 400K.
The artwork expresses the atmosphere of a new international hotel. The features are generally similar from one hotel to another in the same group for not disturbing the customers, but the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Shanghai is remarkable in its excess: it fills the upper 36 floors in a tower which totals 88.
The hollow atrium is the subject of this image, in a composition of perfect symmetry. It provides a vertical view of an immensity that can be compared with the Rhein realized by the artist in landscape format in 1996 and 1999.
The impression of perspective, which is perfect, is in fact the result of the rigorous geometric assembly of many elementary photographs taken from different levels. Some characters scattered between various floors are crushed by the grandeur created to serve them.
'Shanghai' is a photograph made in 2000. The copy 4/6 in c-print on Plexiglas 302 x 207 cm in an artist's frame was sold for £ 290K including premium by Sotheby's in London on 25 June 2009. It is listed again in the same auction room on July 1, lot 49 estimated £ 400K.
The artwork expresses the atmosphere of a new international hotel. The features are generally similar from one hotel to another in the same group for not disturbing the customers, but the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Shanghai is remarkable in its excess: it fills the upper 36 floors in a tower which totals 88.
The hollow atrium is the subject of this image, in a composition of perfect symmetry. It provides a vertical view of an immensity that can be compared with the Rhein realized by the artist in landscape format in 1996 and 1999.
The impression of perspective, which is perfect, is in fact the result of the rigorous geometric assembly of many elementary photographs taken from different levels. Some characters scattered between various floors are crushed by the grandeur created to serve them.
2000 Titanium for Patek Philippe
2014 SOLD 1.32 M$ including premium
Titanium is used for only several years in jewelry. This beautiful white metal has many qualities that had long been offset by excessive production costs.
It is particularly interesting for its light weight, high mechanical strength, high chemical stability and resistance to seawater. It is therefore a great candidate to compete with gold and platinum in luxury wristwatches.
So far four Patek Philippe watches were known in titanium. The 5004T was the scoop of the charity auction managed by Antiquorum for OnlyWatch on September 28, 2013, with a sensational result at € 2.95 M.
Discreetly, the Swiss brand had worked on titanium for over ten years. The sale at Sotheby's in New York on June 10includes no less than five previously unrecorded titanium watches from a single-owner collection gathered by private commissions.
Assembled in 2000, the 5001T is the most exceptional. It is estimated $ 1M, lot 30.
The Patek Philippe model 5001 Sky Moon Tourbillon was very sophisticated for its time, with two dials, a sky chart and twelve complications, but it is too thick : 18 mm. It seems retroactively logical that Patek Philippe and its client had wished to reduce the weight by using titanium.
Compared to a basic 5001, the 5001T offers some unique design features that make it an intermediate specimen preparing the prestigious 5002 reference released in 2001.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 1.32 million including premium, exceeded the lower estimate. This is a very good price for a contemporary watch.
It is particularly interesting for its light weight, high mechanical strength, high chemical stability and resistance to seawater. It is therefore a great candidate to compete with gold and platinum in luxury wristwatches.
So far four Patek Philippe watches were known in titanium. The 5004T was the scoop of the charity auction managed by Antiquorum for OnlyWatch on September 28, 2013, with a sensational result at € 2.95 M.
Discreetly, the Swiss brand had worked on titanium for over ten years. The sale at Sotheby's in New York on June 10includes no less than five previously unrecorded titanium watches from a single-owner collection gathered by private commissions.
Assembled in 2000, the 5001T is the most exceptional. It is estimated $ 1M, lot 30.
The Patek Philippe model 5001 Sky Moon Tourbillon was very sophisticated for its time, with two dials, a sky chart and twelve complications, but it is too thick : 18 mm. It seems retroactively logical that Patek Philippe and its client had wished to reduce the weight by using titanium.
Compared to a basic 5001, the 5001T offers some unique design features that make it an intermediate specimen preparing the prestigious 5002 reference released in 2001.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 1.32 million including premium, exceeded the lower estimate. This is a very good price for a contemporary watch.
