2008
2008 Nickelodeon by Ghenie
2016 SOLD for £ 7.1M by Christie's
Born in Romania, Adrian Ghenie was 12 at the fall of Ceausescu. Having become an artist he compares the new sanitized and shiny lifestyle with the dark and tragic past that he has known and of which we must not forget the inhumanity.
On October 6, 2016, Christie's for £ 7.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1M Nickelodeon, oil and acrylic on canvas painted in 2008, lot 5 estimated £ 1M. This very large diptych 238 x 414 cm overall was the centerpiece of a 2009 exhibition significantly entitled Darkness for an hour.
A group of men are standing. Most of them look towards a screen. In a basic room, they watch a movie of the old days. We guess their intentions and commitments. With their long coats, they personify the dark hours of the nomenklatura.
These chilling stiff characters have no identity. The faces are blurred as in these photos where the Stalinist bureaucrats altered the past by erasing the traitors to their cause. One of these men has a more precise gesture as if he lacerated his own face with his hands.
Adrian Ghenie then attempted to ward off his ghosts by providing them with the identities of dictators and of Nazi criminals. Their blurred faces are inspired by real portraits in an expressionist style that made his art compared with that of Francis Bacon. In the same style he made mocking self-portraits.
His success is growing and he is now taking care to have his references in art history. A self-portrait as Vincent van Gogh 48 x 30 cm painted in 2012 was sold for $ 2.6M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016 from a lower estimate of $ 200K. The Sunflowers 280 x 280 cm painted in 2014 in a composition inspired by the same artist was sold for £ 3.1M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2016 from a lower estimate of £ 400K.
On October 6, 2016, Christie's for £ 7.1M from a lower estimate of £ 1M Nickelodeon, oil and acrylic on canvas painted in 2008, lot 5 estimated £ 1M. This very large diptych 238 x 414 cm overall was the centerpiece of a 2009 exhibition significantly entitled Darkness for an hour.
A group of men are standing. Most of them look towards a screen. In a basic room, they watch a movie of the old days. We guess their intentions and commitments. With their long coats, they personify the dark hours of the nomenklatura.
These chilling stiff characters have no identity. The faces are blurred as in these photos where the Stalinist bureaucrats altered the past by erasing the traitors to their cause. One of these men has a more precise gesture as if he lacerated his own face with his hands.
Adrian Ghenie then attempted to ward off his ghosts by providing them with the identities of dictators and of Nazi criminals. Their blurred faces are inspired by real portraits in an expressionist style that made his art compared with that of Francis Bacon. In the same style he made mocking self-portraits.
His success is growing and he is now taking care to have his references in art history. A self-portrait as Vincent van Gogh 48 x 30 cm painted in 2012 was sold for $ 2.6M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016 from a lower estimate of $ 200K. The Sunflowers 280 x 280 cm painted in 2014 in a composition inspired by the same artist was sold for £ 3.1M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2016 from a lower estimate of £ 400K.
2008 Woman Artist by Marshall
2019 SOLD for $ 7.3M by Sotheby's
US graphic arts are a prerogative for white men, aren't they ? Beauford Delaney exiled. The few women of color who dared an artistic career were ignored or persecuted, like Elizabeth Catlett who had lost her US citizenship for 40 years.
The wind turns in the literary circle of Dr. Maya Angelou. In 1990 Faith Ringgold and Clarissa Sligh display the art of 100 black women in an exhibition. Even today the desegregation is not over despite the undeniable success of Julie Mehretu and Kara Walker.
The theme of the woman painter could not leave indifferent Kerry James Marshall. This Chicago-based artist shows an America populated by Blacks in their gradual conquest of uninhibited social status in everyday life, education, spare time and emotions.
On March 1, 2019, Sotheby's sold for $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.8M the imaginary portrait of a young black woman, acrylic on PVC 73 x 63 cm painted by Marshall in 2008, lot 209.
This woman is a painter recognizable as such by the attributes of her work, the colorful palette and the spotted smock. She is standing, her hand resting vigorously on her hip, her straight gaze proudly directed towards the observer. The patterns of lines on the back wall suggest that her art is abstract.
The wind turns in the literary circle of Dr. Maya Angelou. In 1990 Faith Ringgold and Clarissa Sligh display the art of 100 black women in an exhibition. Even today the desegregation is not over despite the undeniable success of Julie Mehretu and Kara Walker.
The theme of the woman painter could not leave indifferent Kerry James Marshall. This Chicago-based artist shows an America populated by Blacks in their gradual conquest of uninhibited social status in everyday life, education, spare time and emotions.
On March 1, 2019, Sotheby's sold for $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.8M the imaginary portrait of a young black woman, acrylic on PVC 73 x 63 cm painted by Marshall in 2008, lot 209.
This woman is a painter recognizable as such by the attributes of her work, the colorful palette and the spotted smock. She is standing, her hand resting vigorously on her hip, her straight gaze proudly directed towards the observer. The patterns of lines on the back wall suggest that her art is abstract.
2008 Rising Down by Mehretu
2013 SOLD for $ 3.1M by Sotheby's
Julie Mehretu is an Ethiopian artist working in New York.
On the immense surface of her paintings, she begins by positioning an elegant multitude of colored signs. This work initially abstract, as hermetic as a Kandinsky, is not enough for her and she decides to provide it with a life in time and space. The finishing of a painting by Mehretu is a tight pattern of barely perceptible lines adding an unlimited urban structure onto the lighter areas of the image.
On September 25, 2010, Sotheby's sold for $ 1M Untitled 1, 152 x 213 cm, made in 2001. On November 9, 2010, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.3M a painting made in 2004 in ink and acrylic, 285 x 630 cm, titled The Seven Acts of Mercy.
On April 22, 2013 in Doha, Sotheby's sold at lot 15 for US $ 3.1M from a lower estimate of $ 2M a painting made in 2008 in ink and synthetic polymers, 244 x 366 cm. It is titled Rising Down, a contradiction worthy of Miro that expresses the desire of the artist to fill the space and dominate her world.
Then aged 38, Mehretu no longer needed patches of bright colors to express her message. The balance of the tangled lines provides to the work a great lightness.
On the immense surface of her paintings, she begins by positioning an elegant multitude of colored signs. This work initially abstract, as hermetic as a Kandinsky, is not enough for her and she decides to provide it with a life in time and space. The finishing of a painting by Mehretu is a tight pattern of barely perceptible lines adding an unlimited urban structure onto the lighter areas of the image.
On September 25, 2010, Sotheby's sold for $ 1M Untitled 1, 152 x 213 cm, made in 2001. On November 9, 2010, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.3M a painting made in 2004 in ink and acrylic, 285 x 630 cm, titled The Seven Acts of Mercy.
On April 22, 2013 in Doha, Sotheby's sold at lot 15 for US $ 3.1M from a lower estimate of $ 2M a painting made in 2008 in ink and synthetic polymers, 244 x 366 cm. It is titled Rising Down, a contradiction worthy of Miro that expresses the desire of the artist to fill the space and dominate her world.
Then aged 38, Mehretu no longer needed patches of bright colors to express her message. The balance of the tangled lines provides to the work a great lightness.
2008 Patek Philippe Star Calibre 2000
2012 SOLD for HK$ 25M by Christie's
The Calibre 89 of Patek Philippe with its 33 complications was made in 4 units in 1989. It is a marvel of miniaturization, but not enough to be worn on the wrist : it weighs 1,100 grams and its 1,728 components are positioned in a case of 89 mm in diameter and 41 mm thick.
For entering the new millennium, the Swiss brand is preparing a new feat. In 2008 the Star Calibre 2000 is ready.
The Star Calibre 2000 is smaller than the Calibre 89 with "only" 73 mm diameter, 32 mm thick and 530 grams, but it includes 21 complications, some of which show a really renewed imagination.
Perpetual calendar, equation of time, minute repeater are classical complications. We also find in this model the time of crossing the meridian by the Moon and Sirius, the sky chart and the ring that mimics the Westminster chimes. It is protected by six patents, one of which for the time of sunrise and sunset.
A Star Calibre 2000 was sold for HK $ 25M by Christie's on November 28, 2012, lot 2952. This is one of the three Patek Philippe watches from the Dragon collection highlighted in the video shared by Christie's.
For entering the new millennium, the Swiss brand is preparing a new feat. In 2008 the Star Calibre 2000 is ready.
The Star Calibre 2000 is smaller than the Calibre 89 with "only" 73 mm diameter, 32 mm thick and 530 grams, but it includes 21 complications, some of which show a really renewed imagination.
Perpetual calendar, equation of time, minute repeater are classical complications. We also find in this model the time of crossing the meridian by the Moon and Sirius, the sky chart and the ring that mimics the Westminster chimes. It is protected by six patents, one of which for the time of sunrise and sunset.
A Star Calibre 2000 was sold for HK $ 25M by Christie's on November 28, 2012, lot 2952. This is one of the three Patek Philippe watches from the Dragon collection highlighted in the video shared by Christie's.
2008 Beautiful Inside my Head Forever by HIRST
Intro
Damien Hirst managed with Sotheby's a two day solo sale of his most recent art, by-passing the galleries. This event titled Beautiful Inside my Head Forever happened on September 15 and 16, 2008, and fetched £ 111M overall.
This successful auction happened just in time, while the financial market was crashing with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
This successful auction happened just in time, while the financial market was crashing with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
1
The Golden Calf
2008 SOLD for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's
The Golden Calf is a bull crowned by a golden disk featured in a glass aquarium of formaldehyde 320 x 137 cm above a high marble plinth. The horns and hooves are also in gold. Hirst associates religion and death in the title and subject. It was sold for £ 10.3M, lot 13.
2
The Kingdom
2008 SOLD for £ 9.6M by Sotheby's
The Kingdom features a tiger shark with a wide opened mouth, in a glass aquarium of formaldehyde 130 x 380 cm above a high steel plinth.
It was sold for £ 9.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 5.
It was sold for £ 9.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 5.
3
Fragments of Paradise
2008 SOLD for £ 5.2M by Sotheby's
Hirst prepared in 2008 another replica of his 2002 Lullaby cabinets, in the same size 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Fragments of Paradise, it was sold for £ 5.2M from a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 51.
4
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
2008 SOLD for £ 2.95M by Sotheby's
Here today Gone tomorrow is a monumental four winged glass showcase 204 cm high and 370 x 370 cm overall on the floor. It displays on five levels two rows of small glass tanks, each one with a fish floating in the formaldehyde. The position of the displays may be changed. Fish bones are also announced in the description of the catalogue.
It was sold for £ 2.95M, lot 46.
It was sold for £ 2.95M, lot 46.
5
The Black Sheep with a Golden Horn
2008 SOLD for £ 2.6M by Sotheby's
The Black Sheep with the Golden Horn, displayed in a tank 110 x 162 x 64 cm without plinth, was sold for £ 2.6M, lot 9.
6
Memories of / Moments with you
2008 SOLD for £ 2.6M by Sotheby's
Memories of / Moments with you is an installation of two pill cabinets 91 x 137 x 10 cm each for an overall length of 315 cm. It was sold for £ 2.6M from a lower estimate of £ 800K, lot 11 in the same sale.
