Leading contemporary artist Farhad Moshiri’s “Secret Garden” is a self-portrait depicting a giant crystal-studded bear carrying the artist shown as a sleeping child. This artwork is estimated to fetch $300,000-500,000 at Christie’s Auction set to take place today, 16 April in Dubai. The April sale in Dubai kick-starts today with Part-I of the sale with artists from Morocco to Iran via Syria and Turkey. Nevertheless, the highlight of the sale will be Farhad’s “Secret Garden,” a 2009 painting created by the artist. Last year the auction house sold $6.4 million of art in its April 2012 sale in Dubai and $5.9 million in October 2012 with buyers predominantly from the Middle East and Dubai. Iranian artworks were warmly received at last year’s event; Moshiri sold the “Golden Goddess” for $ 98,000. Farhad Moshiri is the first Middle Eastern artist to sell a work at an auction for more than $1 million.
Tomorrow’s auction has lots starting from $3,000 by about 90 artists, a quarter of them represented for the first time in an international auction. Another key highlight to the sale is a bronze sculpture by Iran’s Parviz Tanavoli titled “Poet and Key,” hoping to fetch an estimated $100,000 – $150,000.
Sponsored by Zurich, Christie’s April Dubai sale of Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art is taking place at Jumeirah Emirates Towers.
