58 REVIEW icons and masters Stellar works make their way into regional salerooms. Myrna Ayad surveys the last season’s auctions. a uction highlights are a little tricky: they’re often obvious lots – highly coveted and unique pieces that are accompanied by hefty es- timates, or they belong to that group of artworks whose hammer prices surprise the room and the market at large. And sometimes, they are both. So when the ads and auction catalogues for the April two-part Christie’s Dubai and Sotheby’s Doha sales were published, it was immediately evident that Farhad Moshiri’s Secret Garden and Chant Avedis- sian’s Icons of the Nile from their respective auctions were the apparent star lots. And so they were – the former, reportedly consigned from a prominent Europe-based Iranian art collector sold for $987,750 up from an estimate of $300,000-500,000 to a non- Iranian buyer; while the latter went for $1.56 mil- lion, making it the most expensive artwork by a living Arab artist, surpassing Abdulnasser Gharem’s Message/Messenger , which sold for $842,500 at the 2011 April Christie’s Dubai sale. “A valid comparison for sure, but let’s not forget that Gharem’s piece sup- ported a charity,” said a Dubai-based art consultant. Avedissian’s brilliant 120-stencil installation, which draped the walls of the auction room in the Ka- tara Cultural Village, “is the first time in the history of Contemporary Arab art that such an estimate [$1-1.5 million] is put down in writing,” said Lina La- zaar, International Specialist, Sotheby’s. Icons of the Nile is rumoured to have been acquired by a Doha cultural institution, along with Ayman Baalbaki’s Ya ‘Illahi – which achieved a world record for the artist at $377,000 – and Manal Al-Dowayan’s 125-piece Suspended Together , which sold for $329,000, over double its high estimate. Whispers rose in the auction room for what could have been a star lot, when a work by Ahmed Alsoudani, printed on the Sotheby’s catalogue back cover, was removed right before the sale began. The 46-lot sale was the auction house’s first in Doha since 2010 and comprised works by artists such as Ai Weiwei, Donald Judd and Damien Hirst, alongside those by Contempo- rary regional names including Adel Abidin, Monir Farmanfarmaian and Baalbaki. That sale was remi- niscent of early Christie’s Dubai auctions, which included a similar combination of international and regional nationalities and diverse genres. It is significant to note that five of the top lots – those by Judd, Maurizio Cattelan, Julie Mehretu, Hirst and even Avedissian – were guaranteed and had irrevocable bids. All reportedly sold to Western cli- ents, except for Icons of the Nile . Perhaps the time is right for Christie’s Dubai to re-introduce such pieces given that the non-Middle Eastern lots at the Sotheby’s auction brought in almost $9 mil- lion against a total of $15.2 million? “I think Du- bai remains the primary platform for regional art – both locally and internationally – and the audi- ence and results for Christie’s Dubai auctions and Art Dubai prove this,” commented art advisor Dina Nasser Khadivi. “When we started our auctions, in- ternational buyers comprised a small percentage of the sales,” says Hala Khayat, Head of Sales, Asso- ciate Director, Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art at Christie’s. “Today the fig- ures and stats show that we’re selling more than half of the sale to international buyers, so perhaps there is the possibility to introduce Post War inter- national works.” Bahraini dealer Bashar Al-Shroogi concurs: “Based on my experience of what people in the region are buying, at the right price point, why not?” 59 REVIEW Facing page: Chant Avedissian. (Detail) Icons of the Nile 1991–2010. Gouache, hand-coloured stencil, gold and silver acrylic paint on board. 120 pieces. 315.6 x 1452 cm overall. Image courtesy Sotheby’s Ltd, 2013. This page: Left: Farhad Moshiri. (Detail) Secret Garden . 2009. Oil, acrylic, metal, glitter paint, beads and Swarovski crystals. 197 x 197 x 5.5 cm. Image courtesy Christie’s Ltd, 2013. Right: (Detail) Manal Al-Dowayan. Suspended Together . 2011. Fibreglass with laminate coating in 125 parts. Variable dimensions. Unique piece. Image courtesy Sotheby’s Ltd, 2013. RECoRDS AND APPLAuSE “of course Baalbaki is going to cause this ruckus,” quipped one dealer at the Christie’s 91-lot Part II sale, as hands rapidly shot up for the 75 x 55 cm piece; “there’s a waiting list on him from here to kingdom come!” The Lebanese artist’s Al-Moulatham , bought by an American collector during Agial Art Gallery’s participation at the ZooM Contemporary Art Fair in Miami in 2010, sold for an impressive $105,750, over five times its high estimate. Among other ‘surprise’ highlights and world records in the 28-lot Part I sale were Modern Master Shafic Abboud’s Le Chemin d’Alep , one of two of the largest works by the Lebanese artist ever made, and which sold for $387,750, up from an estimate of $200,000-250,000 to a collector in the uSA; and Syr- ian artist Safwan Dahoul’s Rêve 16 , which went for $219,750 against an estimate of $100,000-150,000, and sold online to an Asian private collector. The latter was among 13 works by Ayyam Gallery artists in both Christie’s sales – a reflection, said one Arab dealer, “of Ayyam’s increasing presence at auctions”, in addition to the sales that the gallery stages in Dubai and Beirut. Khayat maintains, however: “People are obviously buying from a prestigious auction house [Christie’s], but they’re buying good quality artwork and it’s our job to present the best.” over 20 Modern Middle Eastern lots comprised the Christie’s sales, which brought in a total of $6.4 million, whereas rival Sotheby’s had included five – a curious inclusion in a Contemporary Art sale, but which presented a unique, sensual and impressive piece, Profil , by Mahmoud Said. “We didn’t want to present a menu for Mathaf [Arab Museum of Modern Art],” noted Lazaar. Khayat confirms the difficulty in sourcing Modern work “as people are not very willing to part with higher value pieces” and cites the “nec- essary due diligence and provenance that we conduct”. Interestingly, Modern pieces are finding younger buyers – a sentiment echoed by many. Al-Shroogi believes this is due to “a need to balance their portfolios – these works are to be bought at auction.” of the 86-lot Ayyam Young Collectors auction held on 30 April in Dubai, four were by Syrian Modern Master Fateh Moudarres, all of which came from the Aziz Collection in Switzerland and which all sold for at least double their lower estimates. “It’s not easy to get your hands on them,” said one bidder in the sale, which made $732,600. “The demand will always go up.” Indeed it shall, as several auctions have proven the legitimacy of Modern works. Given the challenging political climate, it remains to be seen just how willing people may be to consign such works.