Charles Saatchi’s Christie’s auction last week is considered a pretty big bust by most.
“In a single-owner sale staged by Christie’s entitled Thinking Big, he offered 50 large sculptures from his collection, several by artists with little or no auction history and many made from challenging materials such as cardboard, styrofoam, clingfilm and papier-mâché. There were no estimates and no reserves. Dealers were appalled by this bargain-basement, everything-must-go strategy…. But overall results were poor and several artists are said to be devastated by the disappointing performance of their sculptures.” [Financial Times]