After the sensational media echo of global reach, collected by the auction sale, last spring, of “I am”, immaterial sculpture of Salvatore Garau, another work “That does not exist” by the Sardinian master, returns to the catalog of an auction house. It is about “In front of you”, which will be auctioned on Tuesday 12 October at the 4-U New Arte Contemporanea auction by the Milanese house Art-Rite.
We need to take a step back. On May 18th, always Art-Rite, auction house leader in contemporary art, had put up for auction “Io sono”, which was sold for 15 thousand euros. A result that marked a turning point in the history of the visual art market. It is an immaterial sculpture, of which, on a physical level, there was only the certificate of authenticity, the only material element that the buyer received.
The creation of intangible works is certainly not a novelty in the history of art. Starting from different conceptual visions and styles, among others, Marcel Duchamp in the twenties, Yves Klein in the fifties, Joseph Kosuth in the sixties, as well as the Italians Piero Manzoni and Gino De Dominicis had already tried their hand. For the first time, however, as far as is known, an invisible sculpture was presented and awarded, after a battle between collectors, in an official auction. The first newspaper to give the news was, on May 19, just Affaritaliani.it. Immediately afterwards, newspapers, print, television and digital newspapers from all over the world were unleashed, with thousands of services.
Gives The Corriere della Sera a The Republic a One morning, in Italy, from The world al New York Post, at the Cbs, at the Cnn, abroad. So much so that several sites specialized in contemporary art have reported that this summer, together with Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, Salvatore Garau was the artist we talked about the most. Now comes the second eagerly awaited auction.
The awarding of lot 52, of the Art-Rite contemporary auction, that of “Davanti a te”, will be followed by the German television broadcaster Deutsche Welle, whose operators will be present in the halls of the Milanese auction house. As has been known for some time, most auctions start when the catalog is put online. From that moment on, collectors can start bidding (online, by phone, in person) pending the final award, which is held in a traditional “physical” session. To Affaritaliani.it it appears that the invisible sculpture by Garau, estimated at 12-16 thousand euros, has already received several offers. At the moment, 19 thousand would have been reached, to which another 25% would have to be added for auction rights.