17 ottobre 2013, Londra, Christie’s
Thinking Big, un’asta speciale di sculture di grandi dimensioni e installazioni offerte in vendita dalla Saatchi Gallery, ha realizzato £3,086,350 ($4,935,074 / €3,635,720). La vendita ha messo all’incanto 50 lotti senza riserva e senza stima. I ricavi verranno utilizzati a supporto dalla Galleria per permetterle continuare a realizzare mostre a ingresso gratuito.
Il top price è stato realizzato da Tracey Emin con il letto “To Meet My Past” venduto per £481,875 ($770,518 / €567,649) nuovo record mondiale per l’artista.
Il catalogo raccoglieva artisti da tutti il mondo ha attirato collezionisti da 5 continenti. In totale sono stati realizzati 23 nuovi record mondiali. ITre donne sul podio: Tracey Emin, Rebecca Warren e Berlinde de Bruyckere.
Top ten:
Francis Outred, Christie’s Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe: “This project has been a celebration of global sculpture in the 21st century and the work has been sold to foundations and private collections across the world. The work came from five continents and attracted bidding and buying across five continents. We made 23 artist records, including for eight artists who hadn’t been sold at auction before. We are also thrilled that the exhibition has welcomed over 7,000 visitors since the weekend and that the auction attracted such interest, raising such a significant sum in support of the Saatchi Gallery’s policy of free entry and free art education. The Saatchi Gallery was the first art space in the UK to show a whole host of artists before they became household names, from Jeff Koons and Bruce Nauman to Andreas Gursky, Sigmar Polke and Damien Hirst, and the contemporary art scene would not be what it is today without their vision. We are thrilled to have been able to work with them over the past year in presenting this exhibition and auction.”
Philippa Adams, Senior Director, Saatchi Gallery: “We are thrilled that so many of these works have been acquired by some of the world’s great collections. Christie’s enthusiasm for this venture has helped us maintain our policy of free admission to all our exhibitions, and to develop our free education programme, which show students from the 2000 schools each year the exciting new art we find from around the world.”
