Teh One Who Knocks
07-03-2014, 11:34 AM
By Katya Kazakina - Bloomberg
http://i.imgur.com/OCrRh7o.jpg
Tracey Emin’s bed, strewn with cigarette butts, discarded condoms and empty booze bottles, was among the top pieces at Christie’s 99.4 million-pound ($170.5 million) postwar and contemporary art sale in London yesterday.
The provocative British artist, 50, sat in the front of the packed salesroom as her 1998 piece, “My Bed,” surged from the opening bid of 650,000 pounds to the final price of 2.5 million pounds, including buyer’s commission. The result smashed her previous auction record of 481,875 pounds and more than doubled the expected high target of 1.2 million pounds.
“Not yours here, Tracey,” auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen said to the artist in jest as he wielded multiple bids from the podium.
The work was consigned by Charles Saatchi, the art collector and advertising executive, who bought it in 2000. The proceeds from its sale will benefit the Saatchi Gallery’s foundation, the auction house said.
One of the best-known pieces to come out of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, the work displays the artist’s unmade bed surrounded by all kinds of personal detritus. “My Bed” sparked debate about the meaning of art when it was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999 and exhibited in London.
http://i.imgur.com/OCrRh7o.jpg
Tracey Emin’s bed, strewn with cigarette butts, discarded condoms and empty booze bottles, was among the top pieces at Christie’s 99.4 million-pound ($170.5 million) postwar and contemporary art sale in London yesterday.
The provocative British artist, 50, sat in the front of the packed salesroom as her 1998 piece, “My Bed,” surged from the opening bid of 650,000 pounds to the final price of 2.5 million pounds, including buyer’s commission. The result smashed her previous auction record of 481,875 pounds and more than doubled the expected high target of 1.2 million pounds.
“Not yours here, Tracey,” auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen said to the artist in jest as he wielded multiple bids from the podium.
The work was consigned by Charles Saatchi, the art collector and advertising executive, who bought it in 2000. The proceeds from its sale will benefit the Saatchi Gallery’s foundation, the auction house said.
One of the best-known pieces to come out of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, the work displays the artist’s unmade bed surrounded by all kinds of personal detritus. “My Bed” sparked debate about the meaning of art when it was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999 and exhibited in London.