Sotheby’s first sale in Saudi Arabia, a landmark occasion for the auction house, took place in Diriyah last Saturday (February 8), with works by local and regional artists achieving a relatively high sell-through rate.
The sale, entitled ‘Origins’, was enacted within an intimate outdoor amphitheatre, and featured works by Magritte and Banksy sold for over $1m, meeting but not exceeding their pre-sale estimated value. The entire sale, according to The Art Newspaper, achieved a sell-through of 67% by lot and 74% by value, seeing a total result of $17.2m.
One of the highest-selling items was an NBA jersey worn by Michael B. Jordan, which sold within estimates for $960,000. Each of the Saudi Arabian artists in the auction sold for above estimate and Samia Halaby’s Blue Trap (in a Railroad Station) (1977) garnered $384,000, almost double its highest estimate.
The entire sale featured around 120 objects. Nearly half were works of fine art and a quarter were watches and jewellery. Various commentators (Forbes, ArtNews) have noted a trend in usual investors in the luxury goods segment moving to invest more in fine art. Saudi and Arab fine art received a well-deserved reception, which, for a regional market that usually prioritises the luxury department, is relatively surprising. It is interesting to consider whether the rise in AI and NFT’s on the art market is drawing investors to consider how fine art might be becoming even more valuable across the global markets.
An AI data painting appeared in the sale, Machine Hallucinations Mars, by Refik Anadol achieving an extortionate $900,000. The new era of ‘art’ is that produced by artificial intelligence, or so it appears. Muse will be writing on the upcoming AI-art sale at Christie’s New York which, if it does indeed go ahead, will prove pivotal in the future of the global art market.
Further Reading:
- Art(ificial) Intelligence: A NEw Era of Creativity? By Georgina Spriddell
- The $5.2 Million Banana: Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian and the Absurdity of Art Valuation by Lauren Walker
Editor's Note: Images of Machine Hallucinations Mars by Refik Anadol are not currently available to the public domain, but instead see the thumbnail, a piece by Anadol entitled Mindspaces Garden.
