A Monumental Canvas by Yoshitomo Nara Sells for $25 Million in Hong Kong, Shattering the Artist’s Previous Auction Record

A work by the Japanese artist
Yoshitomo Nara sold for nearly $25 million at Sotheby’s
contemporary evening sale in Hong Kong on Saturday, smashing the
artist’s previous auction record by a factor of five. As protesters
flooded the streets of
central Hong Kong over the weekend, the sale carried
on—and, perhaps surprisingly, outperformed expectations. The
auction brought in HK$538 million ($68.6 million), exceeding
its pre-sale high estimate of HK$408 million ($52
million).

Six bidders duked it out for a
lengthy ten minutes to get their hands on Nara’s
Knife Behind Back
(2000), which ultimately sold for
$24.9 million with premium. The artist completed the canvas—his
largest ever to come to auction—the same year he returned to Japan
after spending 12 years in Germany. In the painting, one of his
trademark wide-eyed children stares out crankily at the viewer with
one hand behind her back; only the title offers an ominous
indication of what she is holding in her hand. 

Four of Nara’s five top auction
results have been set between 2018 and 2019, according to the
artnet Price Database. His previous record was established in May
when Sleepless Night (Cat) (1999) sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong for $4.5 million with premium. 

The Sotheby’s Hong Kong sale on
Saturday also saw a record set for the Chinese artist Liu Ye’s
monumental canvas, Smoke (2001–2). Five bidders chased the work to a
final price of HK$52 million ($6.7 million) in a dedicated sale of
Chinese contemporary art from the collection of Baroness Gillion
Crowet. Liu’s previous record was HK$43 million ($5.5 million),
achieved at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2013.

The latest results arrive as
Hong Kong continues to gain traction as a venue for high-octane
contemporary art at auction, where new records can be seen for both
Asian and non-Asian artists alike. Last April, sales at Sotheby’s
Hong Kong set new world auction records for the Ethiopian-born, New
York-based painter Julie Mehretu and market darling KAWS, whose
twist on the Simpsons sold for 15 times its
pre-sale high estimate. 

Now, all eyes will be on the
November sales in New York to see if Nara’s work makes another
appearance and can maintain its market momentum, or
whether Knife Behind Back will be more of a one-hit
wonder. 

The post A Monumental Canvas by Yoshitomo Nara Sells for $25
Million in Hong Kong, Shattering the Artist’s Previous Auction
Record appeared first on artnet News.