Sotheby’s Milan has invited Marie-Louise Sciò, CEO and Creative Director of the Pellicano Hotels Group and founder of the lifestyle website ISSIMO, to co-curate a sale of Contemporary Art. Her selection forms part of this season’s Contemporary Curated auction, which carries the highest pre-sale estimate for a sale of its kind staged in Italy to date. Bidding is open from 8 to 14 July 2022, with the highlights on view in a concurrent exhibition running from 12 to 14 July at Sotheby’s Milan galleries on Corso Venezia.
Sciò has handpicked a personal edit of works spanning established names to the emerging generation of artists working today. Among her selection are pieces by Mimmo Rotella, which she likened to her diaries for their intimate quality, alongside works by Jean Arp, Atsuko Tanaka and Man Ray. A colourful grid tapestry by Alighiero Boetti is spotlighted together with works by Gino De Dominicis, Piero Dorazio and two bronze sculptures by Lucio Fontana.
Individual estimates within her curated edit include Rotella’s Serata eccezionale (1961) at 130,000 to 180,000 euros, Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Natura (1967) at 80,000 to 120,000 euros, Dorazio’s Fouilles (1968) at 80,000 to 120,000 euros, Tanaka’s D1 (1986) at 60,000 to 80,000 euros, De Dominicis’s Senza titolo (Torre dei Sumeri) (1986) at 40,000 to 60,000 euros, Boetti’s Divine Astrazioni (1987) at 30,000 to 40,000 euros, Arp’s Constellation d’anniversaire (1962) at 12,000 to 15,000 euros and Man Ray’s Optic-Topic (1974 to 1978) at 5,000 to 7,000 euros.
Beyond the curated edit, the auction includes works by emerging artists Robert Nava, Jody Kerwick and Izumi Kato, whose pieces will be offered in Italy for the first time. They are presented alongside classic Italian artists from Alberto Burri to Michelangelo Pistoletto and Fausto Melotti, and international names including Andy Warhol, Peter Schuyff and Jean-Paul Riopelle. Estimates across the sale range from 500 to 180,000 euros, extending the series to both established buyers and newer collectors.
The Contemporary Curated series began in New York in 2014 before launching in London in 2016 and Hong Kong in 2021, filtering Contemporary art through the tastes of figures across music, business, fashion and the arts. Sotheby’s hosted its first Milan edition in December 2020 with Delfina Delettrez Fendi, followed last year by Anna dello Russo.
The sale follows Sotheby’s first live sale of Contemporary Art in Italy since the pandemic, which achieved an above-estimate 14.2 million euros, or 15.4 million dollars, in April. That was the highest total since November 2019, with 95 percent of the offerings finding new homes and three quarters of those selling above their high estimates.
(Press Release)
