F rom 10 to 17 December, Sotheby’s is thrilled to present the first edition of Contemporary Curated in Milan guest curated by designer and jeweler Delfina Delettrez Fendi. A 4th generation heiress of the Fendi fashion empire, Delfina has spent her life surrounded by the ingenious creative spirit of the Fendi matriarchy and the savoir-faire of the Roman ateliers.
Hailed by The Times as “one of the most exciting jewellers out there” with “cult status”, Delfina has selected for its Italian debut works by some of the most eclectic artists spanning the post-war era to the present day, employing a deeply personal approach that connects the art from different eras with her lyrical yet subversive approach to jewelry design.
Featuring modern and contemporary artworks from private Italian collections, highlights from the sale include works by leading Italian artists, such as Carla Accardi, Cesare Tacchi, Fausto Melotti and Luigi Ontani, along with established international masters, like Shozo Shimamoto, Sam Francis, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist, as well as a generation of artists on the rise, including Matt Mullican, Inka Essenhigh, Marcel Dzama and Pascale Marthine Tayou.
For the first edition of Contemporary Curated in Milan, we are proud to present an exciting selection of works spanning across aesthetics, form and media from an emerging generation of contemporary artists.
From a surreal drawing titled Girl with haunched shoulders by Inka Essenhigh, to three small works on canvas by Marcel Dzama infused with Dadaism and Soviet-era agitprop, from a monochrome composition in white chalks by Pascale Marthine Tayou, to an intricate work on paper by Raqib Shaw that combines metallic paint, glitter and rhinestones, this December’s sale offers a wide window onto the new panorama of artists on the rise.
Also included in the sale are works by Douglas Gordon, Vanessa Beecroft, Charles Avery and more.
Alongside works on paper and on canvas, the sale is underpinned by sculptural works and installations differing in scale and form that subvert the way one sees and experiences art. Works like Reishaus by Wolfgang Laib, whose artistic approach has often been compared to that of Carl Andre or Donald Judd, the walk-through installation For Lao Tsu by James Rosenquist from the 1960s and the sculpture Drinking the rain by Lawrence Carroll that appears as a fountain of light, encourage the viewer to question one’s relationship with a work within a specific space and time.
Highlights also include a majestic yet fragile sculpture by Nick Van Woert made in plaster and resin, an intricate laser cut aluminium slab by Entang Wiharso, a conceptual work by Claudio Parmiggiani featuring a snail that bridges between two rocks, a neon work titled David Crossing the Moon by Pascale Marthine Tayou that embraces diversity across races.
