BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: Fifty-eight artworks by some of the top Arab, Iranian and international artists will go under the hammer at the Contemporary Art Doha sale by Sotheby’s at Katara Art Centre on April 21.
Celebrated artist Christopher Wool’s 1987 painting ‘Untitled’ is the most expensive and will be auctioned with a pre-sale estimate of $1m to $1.5m.
“Wool has a very prolific career spanning almost a quarter of the century. This piece is characterised by repetition of patterns wherein you have no point of focus, a very important decorative work by the artist,” said Ashkan Baghestani (pictured), Specialist, Middle East Department.
This is the first time a Wool will be auctioned in Doha.
As in the previous Doha sale, Baghestani believes the upcoming auction will be strong because of the quality of the pieces, some of which are by artists who broke records previously.
One of the returning artists is Anish Kapoor whose ‘Untitled’ from his Pixelated Disk series fetched $1.595m last year, achieving a record for the highest price for his work in any Middle East auction. The highlight this year, Kapoor’s ‘Untitled’ from the same series has an estimated value of $800,000-$1.2m.
Egyptian artist Chant Avedissian, who broke record in 2013 Contemporary Art Doha sale with his ‘Icons of the Nile’ bought at $1.56m, is one of the features at the auction. Baghestani describes Avedissian’s 21-piece artwork which is similar to his previous piece as “a beautiful mosaic of pan-Arab culture depicting celebrities, politicians and strong figures from the region.” Among other highlights are Rudolf Stingel’s Untitled (est. $600,000/800,000), El Anatsui’s Introvert, (est. $700,000/1m) and Ali Banisadr’s The Shrines ($100/150,000).
The auction, Baghestani predicts, will be another record-breaking, with the quality and diversity of the collection.
“We hope it does extremely well because it is a well-curated show, the selection is extremely fresh, exciting and vibrant, with the best artist from each country. The artists are extremely good and we hope we reach a wider audience.”
Having Doha as a venue for Sotheby’s auctions in recent years has seen a huge success for the auction house. “Doha is a great platform. We get international exposure by mixing Middle East and Western contemporary art,” said Baghestani.
“Museums like Mathaf have showcased many artists we are showing such as Etel Adnan, Wael Shawky and Rachid Koraichi. Since we started sale in 2008, we have been doing better and better and gaining more and more attention and recognition. Our collector base is growing. It’s a very exciting one,” he said. The Peninsula
