Auction Results: Fusion - Contemporary Art and Design at Sotheby's
December 14 '10
New York
As mentioned earlier , Sotheby's New York has just held a week of modern Design auctions, which in total brought in excess of $19 million. The opening sale of the series was 'Fusion: Contemporary Art and Design'.
A collaboration between the company's 20th Century Design and Contemporary Art departments, the sale comprised of works which blur the distinction between fine art and design, a force in visual culture since World War II. The balance was tipped toward the Fine Art side, with 100 fine art works and only 20 design pieces on offer, each chosen for their contribution to discourse between the two disciplines, however the design pieces largely held their own.
One of the most successful results was for Johnny Swing's 'Chair (model Half dollar)' an iconic design composed entirely of coins. The piece was estimated at $25,000 - 35,000 and sold at $80,500.
Front design's thermosplastic 'Sketch Furniture' chair, created by capturing gestures of sketching 'into air' with custom software reached the top end of its estimate of $30,000 - 40,000, selling for $40,625.
Other pieces which sold well within their estimates included Ron Arad's 'Rolling volume,' Toord Boontje's 'Petit jardin', a panel screen by Studio Job and 'Model One Man Chair' by Nacho Carbonell. Results accompany the images below.
The total figure brought in was $4,911,186 which was within the pre-sale estimate.
'Fusion - Contemporary Art and Design' catalogue
Johnny Swing, 'Chair (model Half dollar)', 2008, estimated at $25,000 - 35,000, sold for $80,500
Front Design, 'Sketch furniture', 2005, estimated at $30,000 - 40,000, sold for $40,625
Tord Boontje, 'Petit Jardin', 2006, estimated at $30,000 - 50,000, sold for $37,500
Ron Arad, 'Rolling Volume', 1990, estimated at $60,000 - 80,000, sold for $74,500
Studio Job, Four Panel Screen, 2006, estimated at $50,000 - 70,000, sold for $62,500
Nacho Carbonell, 'Model One Man Chair', 2008, estimated at $20,000 - 30,000, sold for $25,000
