Japanese painter Yoshitomo Nara’s ‘Knife Behind Back’, was sold for a whopping $24.9 million (Rs 117 crore) Sunday at an auction in Hong Kong’s Convention Centre. Even though Hong Kong is on tenterhooks with protests and clashes affecting daily life for more than a month, there was a large turnout for the five-day auction conducted by Sotheby’s.
Six people were in fray to buy Yoshitomo Nara’s creation. “A new world auction record for Yoshitomo Nara has been achieved in our #HongKong Contemporary Art Evening Sale, with ‘Knife Behind Back’, sold for HK$196m / US$25m, nearly five times the previous auction record set earlier today,” Sotheby’s wrote on Twitter while sharing a photo of the painting.
#AuctionUpdate A new world auction record for Yoshitomo Nara has been achieved in our #HongKong Contemporary Art Evening Sale, with 'Knife Behind Back', sold for HK$196m / US$25m, nearly five times the previous auction record set earlier today. pic.twitter.com/JBsrFhi1Gg
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 6, 2019
The sales include 20 live auctions and targets more than $336 million.
Even before his ‘Knife Behind Back’ painting Yoshitomo Nara became a world renowned name with his creations.
At the auction, the Nara painting drew six bidders and sold in 10 minutes at a price that was five times the artist’s auction record. The seven-foot by seven-foot canvas was completed in 2000, when Nara returned to Japan after 12 years in Germany.
Yoshitomo Nara also made a painting in 1999 of a girl titled ‘Sleepless Night (Cat)’, which also fetched a very good price. His paintings are very popular in Asia.
PNN/Agencies