Adrian Ghenie, Nickelodeon (2008), WORLD AUCTION RECORD, £7,109,000
Christie’s auctions held during London’s Frieze Week celebrated the Post-War and Contemporary Art and confirmed that the global market is strong. The sales totalled £91,092,925. There were exceptional results for The Leslie Waddington Collection, which sold 100% by lot and 100% by value. The Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction saw extraordinary results for artists including Adrian Ghenie whose Nickelodeon, a vast, cinematic vision, made a record-breaking figure of £7,109,000. There were 19 auction records.
‘Francis Outred, Chairman and Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s said: ‘ The stand-out price for Adrian Ghenie, and the presence of nine telephone bidders for a piece which already had a record estimate, shows the power of contemporary painting to inspire lives and minds around the world today. The record prices for Thomas Schütte and Imi Knoebel confirmed a growing interest and excitement around mid-career artists and the new levels achieved for Carol Rama and Pino Pascali revealed that even posthumously artists careers can continue to be rewritten.’