You must have come across simple art pieces selling for millions. Sometimes, it amazes you how a simple piece of art fetches such a huge amount of money. However, it will be surprising for you to know that an Italian artist, a few years ago, sold an invisible sculpture for more than $18,000. Did this shock you? Yes, the owner of the so-called invisible sculpture provided the buyer with a certificate of authenticity to verify its existence.
The artwork is titled “Io Sono” (I Am), created by Salvatore Garau, a Sardinian-born artist. It is not known who bought the artwork. The sale was organized by the Italian auction house Art-Rite in May, with the sculpture initially estimated to fetch between $7,000 and $11,000.
Is There Anything Called Invisible Artwork?
Garau explained to Hypebeast the concept of invisible artwork in an interview.
“The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that ‘nothing’ has a weight. Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.”
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In a video, the 67-year-old further described his piece of artwork.
“You don’t see it, but it exists; it is made of air and spirit.”
Invisible Artwork Consists of ‘Air And Spirit’
“It is a work that asks you to activate the power of the imagination, a power that anyone has, even those who don’t believe they have it.”
The sculpture, which consists of “air and spirit,” is designed to occupy a 5-by-5-foot square and is intended to be displayed in a private space without artificial lighting or climate control.
Garau defended the unconventional concept with a philosophical analogy:
“After all, don’t we shape a God we’ve never seen?”
This is not Garau’s first work invisible to the human eye. In February 2021, he exhibited “Buddha In Contemplation,” another unseen sculpture, at Piazza della Scala in Milan. Just this week, he installed his latest piece, “Afrodite Piange,” facing the New York Stock Exchange.
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Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
