The auction gallery Artesegno in Udine has a recent history as an auction house: born in February-March 2008 it defends itself well in the Italian panorama and now it is mainly proposing auctions of modern and contemporary art with many prestigious pieces, on which it is possible to make pre-auction offers online and take advantage of occasions even after auctions, directly from Artesegno’s website.
At the end of February the Udinese auction house started its fourth auction of contemporary art which, divided in 6 sessions, will take up the whole month of March with a parade of 652 works. Among the most interesting artists, for quantity of works and for estimates, the Oriental ones will certainly gain the spotlight. At the top of the estimates a work by Kazuo Shiraga stands out, and starting from an auction base of 160,000 euros it will aim at an estimate of about 300,000 euros. It is an oil on canvas entitled “Untitled BB 104”, a historical piece which is very important in the production of this artist belonging to the Gutai group. The work, realised in 1961 – in the period of greatest artistic fortune and fertility for Shiraga – is therefore an admirable example of his poetics in that period and of his preference for action painting, engaging hands and feet in an authentic hand-to-hand with the work. If the procedures of Jackson Pollok, the father of action painting, entailed a certain result guaranteed by the control of one’s own body, Shiraga went beyond his experimentalism by not allowing his body to impose, even unconsciously, to the work a method or even only a slightly piloted character, leaving his body at the mercy of ropes and various expedients, in order to achieve outcomes with an accidental character. Just last December, during one of Sotheby’s auctions in Paris, a work by Shiraga, of the same type, was sold for 240,000 euros.
The auction will present many works by another outstanding representative of Gutai art, Shozo Shimamoto, considered with Pollock, John Cage and Lucio Fontana one of the most relevant artists of the contemporary art panorama. Many of the artist’s works – now protagonist of an exhibition curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, open until Sunday 8th March – are displayed in the great museums of international fame like the Tate Gallery and the Tate Modern. Among the most valuable works at auction “Bottle Crash”(auction base 25,000 , estimate 50,000 €) realised with acrylics and pieces of glass on canvas. Then there will also be 2 sculptures that will start from an auction base of 3,500 euros, and a series of mixed-technique canvases, realised between 2000 and 2007, with auction bases included between 10,000 and 12,000 euros. Among the Japanese an artist who will definitely stand out is the ironic and ludic Yoshitomo Nara who, with “Die Schwartze Katze”(the black cat) (auction base of 23,000 euros and estimate 45,000), will be for the first time at auction in Italy. First time in Italy also for Robert Natkin, a representative of American abstract expressionism, with the oil “Landscape” (auction base 8,300 € and estimate 16,000 €), without doubt more accessible than the rare work by his colleague Paul Jenkins, dated 1957, which will start from a base of 38,500 euros aiming at the estimate value of 65,000-70,000 euros. nformal art is well-represented with a work by George Mathieu, artist who continues to achieve success and excellent hammer prices at auctions. “L’ombrage frivole”, a 73×92cm oil on canvas dated1990, starting from an auction base of 79,000 euros will try to reach the estimate of 120,000-130,000, an apparently noticeable estimate, but not excessive if we compare it to the artist’s current market.
There will also be an example of American graffiti art signed James Brown, entitled “Opus contra naturam (Shaped)III” from 1993 (auction base 24,000 € and estimate 45,000).
There are also many Italian names, including Guttuso, Basaldella, Baj, Dova, Perilli, Reggiani, Zigaina and obviously Vedova, present with 3 works among which an outstanding painting and collage on paper applied to canvas, from 1990 (base 45,000 € and estimate 75,000-80,000).
Available also smaller works, serigraphs, prints, bas-reliefs by the great names of the world of art, accessible to everyone. A couple of examples: Juan Mirò, “Vol Espacial”, lithograph, 1979, auction base 1,300.00 €, estimate 3,000 €; Salvador Dalì, “Spatial Eve” bas-relief in silver 925/1000, auction base: 300€, estimate 700€.
To view the lots of Artesegno’s auctions: http://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/artesegno/auction-house/11076/
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