Stingel displays on the floor the carpets in which the visitors of his exhibitions leave the mark of their footsteps. The effect is improved when the boots are previously dipped in lacquer. He covers the walls with aluminum plates and invites the complaisant crowd to incise graffiti on this malleable surface. The artist intervenes again when the aluminum is sufficiently covered and molds that collective graffiti on a plate of copper.
Stingel exhibited this art in 2007 with plates of silver-electroplated copper. In 2012 with the support of Gagosian he realizes gilded walls with a similar technique in panels of individual plates 120 x 120 cm and 4 cm thick.
A 240 x 240 cm four element gilt panel was sold for $ 4.8M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015. A similar work is estimated $ 4.5M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 45 B.
A wall of six gilt plates for an overall surface of 240 x 360 cm is estimated $ 5M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 18, lot 5. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is illustrated on the tweets below.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Christie's : $ 6.7M
Sotheby's : $ 6.9M
Take a closer look at Rudolf Stingel’s ‘Untitled’ gilded & grafittied masterwork #SothebysContemporary https://t.co/PUTklzISEc pic.twitter.com/sqIsft0hu1
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 11, 2017
Rudolf Stingel’s Market Goes Through the Roof https://t.co/9nFVdXPLDq pic.twitter.com/uOxcS1rJ9w
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) May 10, 2017