Takashi Murakami – Lionel Messi and a Universe of Flowers (2014) at Sotheby’s on February 12. (£200,000-300,000). ©2015 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £317,000
Specially commissioned works of art featuring Lionel Messi will come up at a charity art auction at Sotheby’s in London on February 12. FC Barcelona Foundation, Reach OutTo Asia (ROTA) and UNICEF have launched the ‘1 in 11’ campaign to extend educational opportunities to marginalized children in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with the goal of expanding to more countries.
Globally, one in 11 primary school-age children – or 58 million out of 650 million children – are out of school. The auction will feature donated works by artists including Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Shirin Neshat.
Takashi Murakami said: “I’m delighted to be able to support the ‘1 in 11’ campaign through donating my artwork to the auction and designing the global campaign logo. I know the money raised by the campaign is going to help some of the most marginalised and vulnerable children across the world. ‘1 in 11’ will inspire the world that integrating sport and play into education can be the catalyst to unlock a child’s potential”.
UPDATE: THE auction, which featured 18 artworks donated by renowned artists, raised £2.6 million. The top lot was Jeff Koons Donkey (Yellow) from 1999 which sold for £557,000.