Press Trust of India
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 (London)
An untitled sculpture by an Indian sculptor was sold for 1,945,250 pounds after being hotly contested by three bidders on telephone at Sotheby’s in London.The stunning piece crafted by Anish Kapoor soared above its pre-sale estimate of 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 pounds at the auction last night. This price represents a new auction record for the Mumbai-born artist.It embodies the pioneering manipulation of space and material that characterises the very best of this world-renowned sculptor.
Untitled is one of the largest of Kapoor’s alabaster works and the first double-concave piece to come to auction. Other significant prices were achieved included Subodh Gupta’s Untitled from 2005 for 201,25 pounds and Bharti Kher’s Misdemeanours which was sold for 75,650 pounds.
Gupta’s Untitled canvas, depicting a vessel stall glistening in the pink dawn of sunrise is one of the most important and powerful photo-realistic paintings of the artist to ever come to the market.
