Art News

Auctions are events that legitimize a work or an artist through a public price promoted by the popular social networks that today have become windows open to the world; therefore, they set trends, and many times they are responsible for the galleries raising their prices.

Last September, some of the most important Cuban artists in the country echoed again, in the most important auctions in the world: Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillip's.

We will focus specifically on the results of the Farber Collection. The Farber Collection of Contemporary Cuban Art was created in 2001 by collectors Howard and Patricia Farber. His focus on early Cuban art, especially from the 1980s and early 1990s, represents an effort to recover and preserve the art of that era.

At Phillip's all three lots were sold above estimate:

1. Chicharrón, a painting by Roberto Fabelo, was auctioned for 214,000 usd, twice the estimate (80 to 120,000). This artist has managed to maintain a growth in results in recent years.
2. Fooo many times, by Umberto Peña he doubled the estimate from 92 to 18,000 and was sold for 50,400 usd.
3. Racional, sculpture by Yoan Capote, edition 3 of 3, with an estimate of 10 to 15,000 and sold for 32,760 usd.

For its part, Christie's published its results: Three engravings by the renowned artist, now deceased, Belkis Ayón, which reached considerable prices. On the other hand, the other female artist was Tania Bruguera; the Statistical version estimated between 10,000 to 15,000 usd was auctioned for 47,880 usd.

Other representatives of Cuban Art were René Francisco and Eduardo Ponjuán, (Outside Cuba Inside), estimated at between 20 and 25 thousand USD, it reached an auction price of 32,760 USD.

Other works sold within the estimate:

Tomas Sanchez. Dump. Acrylic on canvas, 1991. Estimate: $120,000 to $180,000, sold for $176,400.

Yoan Capote. Island (In Memoriam). Nails, hooks and artist's blood on wood, 2007. Estimate: 180,000 to 220,000 usd. Sold for $201,600.

Alexander Arrechea. John Hancock Building. Metal sculpture, 2010. Estimate: $30,000 to $40,000. Sold for $30,240.

Works sold below estimate:

Manuel Mendive. The children of the water, conversation with the fish. Sculpture, 2001. Estimate: 40,000 to 60,000 usd. Sold for $37,800.

The carpenters. Vanity. Painting and wood sculpture, 1996. Estimate: 80,000 to 120,000 usd. Sold for $50,400

Kcho. Own light, Sculpture of three meters approx. Mixed media, 2007. Estimate: $40,000 to $60,000. Sold for $7,570.

The prices of the work of this artist have fallen in recent times for various reasons, reasons that are not of our interest to analyze in this article.