#SothebysxTestino Parts I & II of Shake It Up total 8.7m for Museo MATE Participants from 43 Countries 11 Artist Records Auction Continues with

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "#SothebysxTestino Parts I & II of Shake It Up total 8.7m for Museo MATE Participants from 43 Countries 11 Artist Records Auction Continues with"

Lee Gregory
5 years ago
Views:

1 Parts I & II of Shake It Up total 8.7m for Museo MATE Participants from 43 Countries 11 Artist Records Auction Continues with Online Sale of Photographs I'm so pleased to have raised this fantastic endowment for Museo MATE, to allow for greater opportunity and impact for art and culture in my country, Peru. Many thanks to Olly Barker and the amazing team at Sotheby's for helping us elevate our commitment to a goal very close to my heart Mario Testino Mario is a very special combination someone with a fantastically well-honed eye, who believes passionately in the cause of MATE, and who has over the last few days parted with works that have informed his world in order to support that cause. He has always said that he is attracted to art that challenges him and that, at the same time, challenges his own approach to image making. It has been a real thrill to see collectors from around the world respond with such interest to the art that has informed Mario s visual world a testimony not just to a great eye, but also to a great artist. - Oliver Barker, Chairman, Sotheby s Europe The legendary Peruvian photographer Mario Testino shook up Sotheby s in London this week as thousands attended an exhibition and auction organised to benefit the Museo MATE in Lima, Peru (more information on MATE can be found here). Parts I & II of Shake It Up totalled 8.7m, establishing eleven artist auction records in the process. An immersive exhibition, designed by Testino, captivated visitors to Sotheby s New Bond Street galleries, with over 1500 visitors attending on the first day alone. Testino is a global collector in the broadest sense with no fewer than 45 different nationalities represented in the collection. This was echoed in the global interest the sale attracted, with participants from some 43 countries. AUCTION RECORDS: Tomma Abts, Jacqueline Humphries, Mark Leckey, Cathy Wilkes, Michael Dean, José Damasceno, David Musgrave, Nuno de Campos, Lukas Duwenhögger, Caragh Thuring, Geerton Verheus

Auction Highlights Michaël Borremans, Two, 2004 Oil on canvas Sold for 872,750 (Estimate: 200,000 300,000) The highest price was achieved for the enigmatic doubleportrait Two, 2004 by Belgian painter

Bordering on the surreal and brushing with the perverse, in Two we behold the subtle enigma of Michaël Borremans painting.

Drawing on art historical references, the Belgian painter refers to Casper David Friedrich, to Vermeer and Velázquez.

2 Auction Highlights Michaël Borremans, Two, 2004 Oil on canvas Sold for 872,750 (Estimate: 200, ,000) The highest price was achieved for the enigmatic doubleportrait Two, 2004 by Belgian painter Michaël Borremans, which sold for 872,750 following a prolonged bidding battle in the saleroom. Bordering on the surreal and brushing with the perverse, in Two we behold the subtle enigma of Michaël Borremans painting. The master of the open ended narrative, Borremans practices a quiet form of surrealism that imbues itself in a not-quite-as-they-seem aesthetic. Drawing on art historical references, the Belgian painter refers to Casper David Friedrich, to Vermeer and Velázquez. Richard Prince, Untitled (Girlfriend), 1993 Ektacolor print Sold for 554,750 (Estimate: 250, ,000) Richard Prince is somebody who has influenced me a lot in the way that I think, Testino says. The idea of appropriation for me was a very new thing, because I ve always been quite respectful about other people s property, but what I ve realised is that he made us look at things that we weren t looking at properly and challenged us to look at things differently. Tauba Auerbach, Untitled, 2010 Acrylic on canvas Sold for 824,750 (Estimate: 600, ,000) Executed in 2010, Tauba Auerbach s mesmerising Untitled is at the forefront of contemporary painting. The American painter s trompe l'oeil paintings have been championed as one of the most innovative developments in painting in the new millennium. Begun in 2009, these luminous, delicately textured works operate in the space between painting and sculpture, an indeterminate area that the artist has coined the 2.5th dimension.

Adriana Varejão, Blue Sauna, 2003 Oil on canvas Sold for 488,750 (Estimate: 400,000-600,000) The cool, contemporary tile interiors and colour gradations in Varejão s Blue Sauna reflect Testino s own

There is an ambiguous atmosphere, a suspended narrative in these paintings, Varejão said in an interview with the Huffington Post.

tv website, exploring the artist s continued fascination with ceramic materials and traditions.

3 Adriana Varejão, Blue Sauna, 2003 Oil on canvas Sold for 488,750 (Estimate: 400, ,000) The cool, contemporary tile interiors and colour gradations in Varejão s Blue Sauna reflect Testino s own explorations of the formal qualities of image making; light, colour, and composition. In the sauna paintings, I deal with very classical topics of painting paint, colour, tone, perspective, and so on. There is an ambiguous atmosphere, a suspended narrative in these paintings, Varejão said in an interview with the Huffington Post. Always deeply connected and engaged with the artists whose work he collects, in 2017 Testino filmed a video tour of Varejão s Rio de Janeiro studio for his MiraMira.tv website, exploring the artist s continued fascination with ceramic materials and traditions. Tomma Abts, Zaarke, 2000 Oil and acrylic on canvas Sold for 118,750 (Estimate: 25,000 35,000) The auction opened with a flurry of bids for Zaarke, 2000, a painting by the German-born Turner Prize winning artist Tomma Abts, which sold for 118,750, over seven times its pre-sale estimate establishing a new record price the artist. Each of Abts paintings are built up over multiple layers and many sittings. Working on more than one work at a time, canvases can take years of reflection to complete. There is only one rule that Abts brings to her practice: size. Each canvas is consistently sized at 48 by 38 centimetres. Jacqueline Humphries, Pile, 2008 Metallic oil and enamel on linen Sold for 193,750 (Estimate: 40,000-60,000) Through the application of swathes of silver and black paint, Humphries large-scale abstract canvases create dramatic contrasts and light effects. The price of 193,750 achieved in Part I of the Shake It Up sale more than doubled the previous record for the artist at auction.

Lukas Duwenhögger, Slowly Please, Keelaynak, 2002 Oil on canvas and lino in wooden hinged frames, in 3 parts Sold for 137,500 (Estimate: 12,000 18,000) In Part II of the auction, an artist record was

4 Lukas Duwenhögger, Slowly Please, Keelaynak, 2002 Oil on canvas and lino in wooden hinged frames, in 3 parts Sold for 137,500 (Estimate: 12,000 18,000) In Part II of the auction, an artist record was set for this rare piece by the German-born, Istanbul-based artist Lukas Duwenhögger. The work attracted huge interest among collectors, selling for over 10 times its low estimate. About MATE Founded by Mario Testino in 2012, MATE (pronounced mah-teh) aims to bring Peruvian artists and culture to worldwide attention, while offering the best of international contemporary art and photography to audiences in Lima. MATE facilitates this through a dynamic programme of exhibitions, residencies, and events, alongside a permanent display of work by Mario Testino. MATE is committed to bringing the centre s work to a wide audience through guided tours, workshops and talks, as well as offering training and resources as part of this expanding education programme. For more information, visit MATE s website here. About Mario Testino Mario Testino OBE is widely regarded as one of the most influential fashion and portrait photographers of our times. His photographs have been published internationally in magazines such as Vogue, V Magazine and Vanity Fair. Alongside his 40-year practice as a photographer, Testino has realised a body of work as a creative director, guest editor, museum founder, art collector/collaborator and entrepreneur. Born in Lima in 1954 to a traditional Catholic family, remote from the worlds of fashion and Hollywood, Testino moved from Peru to London in It was during apprenticeships at the studios of John Vickers and Paul Nugent that he made his first attempts as a photographer, inspired by how photography masters documented the society of their times: I tried to emulate the English the Mitford sisters, Stephen Tennant and Cecil Beaton. His career began tentatively with a commission to photograph a girl s haircut for British Vogue. The girl in the picture was stylist Lucinda Chambers and the shoot sparked a personal friendship and professional partnership that has lasted to this day. Testino s is an artistic vocabulary that transgresses genders, mixes masculinity and femininity and suggests sensuality rather than sexuality. Suzy Menkes, Vogue s International Editor explains, Testino s skill is first and foremost to catch the moment and to bring out the humanity in his subjects. The National Gallery s 2002 Portraits exhibition attracted more visitors than any other show in the museum s history at the time. Charles Saumarez Smith, then director of the NPG, compared Testino

5 to court artists and portraitists from Holbein to Reynolds. There is a strong relationship between Mario s work and the general tradition of portrait artists. Just like court artists in the past, he works to a tight timetable and significant commercial constraints. Since then, Testino has exhibited at Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (In Your Face, 2012), the Shanghai Art Museum (Private View, 2012), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid (Todo o Nada, 2010) and the Dallas Contemporary in 2014 (Alta Moda). On June 1, 'Undressed' opens at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. In 2016 Testino was awarded the prestigious Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur for "services to culture" by the French government. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2013 in recognition of his career and charity work, in 2010 he was also appointed one of the highest honours in his native country, The Grand Cross Order of Merit in Peru, and became President of the Board of World Monuments Fund Peru in He has worked with Save the Children, amfar, The Elton John Aids Foundation and CLIC Sargent for children with cancer. For more news from Sotheby s: News & Video: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Snapchat ID: sothebys YouTube: Weibo: WeChat ID: sothebyshongkong

Landmark Offering of Harry Bertoia Works Opens at Sotheby s New York

Landmark Offering of Harry Bertoia Works Opens at Sotheby s New York New York +1 212 606 7176 Lauren Gioia Lauren.Gioia@Sothebys.com Darrell Rocha Darrell.Rocha@Sothebys.com Landmark Offering of Works Opens at Sotheby s New York FEATURING MASTERWORKS FROM THE COLLECTION