THE contemporary

18 m$
15 m$
12 m$
H1
H2
9 m$
6 m$
3 m$
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Auction Revenue for Rudolf Stingel 2000 – H1 2015
© ARTPRICE.COM
of Zeng Fanzhi’s series remains an East-West dialogue,
particularly in his landscapes lacerated by
frenetic brush strokes. Through his work depicting
a damaged environment, Zeng Fanzhi is lending
his notoriety to a noble cause and hopes to raise
his compatriots’ awareness of ecological issues. Far
from demagogical, this stylistic departure reflects
his childhood in the city of Wuhan, which has become
sadly renowned for its thick clouds of pollution,
its suffocating heat and its highly polluted
water. In China, Zeng Fanzhi represents a model
of success and he is planning to open his own museum
in Beijing.
Rudolf Stingel – affordable...
15 years ago
Visitors to a Rudolf Stingel exhibition will no
doubt remember his talent for mise-en-scène;
in a New York gallery he installed a huge bright
orange carpet; in New York’s Whitney Museum
and Chicago’s MCA the walls were completely
covered in metallic Celotex insulation board; at
François Pinault’s Palazzo Grassi he covered the
entire palace in huge Persian rugs. These dazzling
settings provide the backdrop for his works.
In short, Stingel uses the entire space offered by
an exhibition to create a different view of his art...
and to seduce collectors.
During the first semester of 2015, twenty works
by Stingel appeared at auction and only one failed
to sell. In price terms, Stingel’s works are rising
fast: last May he reached a new auction record of
$4.7 million twice in the same week 1 .
Moreover, the market is not particularly focused
on any specific period and has demonstrated strong
demand for all his work over the last 35 years. There
was an initial abstract period in the 1980s and
1990s, then the sparkling white mountains and
glaciers of his youth in Northern Italy, and then
his large format canvases in colour. However, collectors
are equally enthusiastic about his hyperrealist
paintings, imbued with melancholy, created
in the 2000s, sometimes in much smaller formats.
Lastly, the market also likes his recent canvases, on
the borderline with sculpture, employing materials
such as gold and copper.
However, Rudolf Stingel’s success on the secondary
market was by no means immediate.
Before 2007, when he exhibited at Chicago’s
MCA and New York’s Whitney Museum (two
of the best windows on the Contemporary art
scene), and despite the fact that his talent was already
largely recognised by art professionals, his
1) Untitled (1993), sold at Christie’s New York (13 May 2015)
and Untitled (2012) at Phillips New York (14 May 2015).
28