Contemporary art at the 86th Auction of the KODL Gallery
Contemporary art at the 86th Auction of the KODL Gallery
On Sunday, November 28th at 12:00, the 86th Auction of the KODL Gallery took place. The auction collection again included a large number of works of contemporary art.
A total of 209 extraordinary works of art were offered at the 86th auction. The starting amount of 98 million was increased to almost 280 million. For the first time in the history of the Czech Republic, one hundred percent of the items were sold. The auction was dominated by drawings by František Kupka and paintings from dr. Borovička's important collection. The most expensive auctioned item was a set of 106 Kupka's drawings made for encyclopedia called "Man and the Earth" for CZK 51,120,000.
The contemporary art scene, both in a domestic and global context, was represented in the auction collection more than richly, including a number of resounding names across many generations and art media. Contemporary art represented abstract geometric oil on canvas entitled Conversation with Hawking 1a executed by the most expensive living Czech artist, Theodor Pištěk. This painting, inspired by one of the most prominent figures in contemporary theoretical physics and science in general, Stephen Hawking, recalls the aesthetics of computer culture in the 1990s, and it is thus a personal statement of the painter's passion for science, science fiction, and visionary culture.
The expressive figural painting was presented by Michael Rittstein's Time Machine. Also interesting for collectors was the canvas Water by Jan Pištěk. The younger middle generation of artists was represented at the exhibition by works from Ondřej Basjuk, Vladimír Houdek, Alžběta Jungrová, Jan Kaláb and Pasta Oner. Admirers of minimalist aesthetics could find something to their liking in the work of Rudolf Burda, which is represented by the glass object entitled U Abyssus, created using the sophisticated technique of hand-blown uranium glass. Also the work of the icon of world street art, Banksy, was included. Visitors can also find here the work of the icon of world street art, Banksy. His legendary work of ironic character called Morons (Sepia) was signed and supplemented with the Pest Control Office certificate of authenticity. The inspiration for this print was the successful auction of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at Christie’s, London, in 1987. The value of the artwork then reached 22.5 million GBP, making Sunflowers the most expensive artwork sold at auction at the time.
It is already a tradition of the autumn auction that part of the proceeds from several artworks are credited to the account of Memory of Nations, one of Europe's most extensive collections of life stories and memories of witnesses of important historical events of the 20th century. For this time it was prodeeds of 1 590 000 CZK. The works by Josef Bolf, Stefan Milkov, Martin Krajc, Jiří Petrbok, Zbyněk Sedlecký, Adam Štech, Ivana Štenclová, Karel Štědrý, Mária Švarbová and also Karel Gott were offered at this charity auction. Admirers of contemporary art thus had a unique opportunity to support an extraordinary project and at the same time treat themselves.
Due to the current epidemiological situation, our auction on November 28 took place again without the presence of the public. The bidders had the opportunity to participate in the auction through a telephone or fixed limit or they could bid online on our auction portal artslimit.com, where this time almost half of the auctioned lots were sold.
Online catalogue
Virtual tour
Banksy
Morons (Sepia)
2007
screenprint in colours, 138/300
56 × 76 cm
Pest Control Office certificate
blind stamp of Pictures on Walls
Online auction
Michael Rittstein
Time Machine
2012
mixed media (acrylic, resin) on canvas
120 × 140 cm
Online auction
Karel Štědrý
How They Met at Kolin
2021
mixed media (acrylic, pastel) on canvas
120 × 80 cm
Online auction
Ivana Štenclová
Butterfly Effect
2021
mixed media (laser cut, acrylic) on plywood
120 × 85 cm
Online auction
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