This sculpture was created in 1996 by Louise Bourgeois, and is part of a series of six other specimens through which the French artist, who died in 2010, plays with the symbolism of the spider.
While the arachnid may appear threatening to some, it was always a positive figure in the sculptor’s work. She described it as an ode to her mother, who was in charge of a tapestry-restoration workshop, and who the artist once described as being “deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider”.
“Spider IV” is estimated to fetch between HK$120 million (RM65 million) and HK$150 million, meaning it could become the most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction in Asia.
It is, however, unlikely to match the feat of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Warrior”, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong. Last year, this semi-autobiographical painting by the New York painter sold for HK$323.6 million, setting a new record for a western artist in the Asian market.
All (spider) eyes on Asia
Still, bids could rise in light of collector interest in Bourgeois’ creations. One of them, “Spider”, sold for US$28 million (RM119 million) at Christie’s New York in 2015 – an amount that set a new sales record for the French artist.
Asian buyers are not immune to “Bourgeois mania”, either. Her sculpture “Quarantina” sold for HK$67 million in 2018 at an auction held in Seoul.
According to Alex Branczik, head of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby’s Asia, the fact that “Spider IV” is going under the hammer in Hong Kong confirms Asian buyers’ growing interest in western art.
“The decision to offer this sculpture in Hong Kong was very deliberate,” he told Artnet News. “As a selling centre, Hong Kong has become a critical region.”
And it’s true that Asian art buyers are often ready to splash the cash at auction. They bid or bought 46% of the lots sold for more than US$5 million at Sotheby’s last year.
And Sotheby’s is not the only one to have noticed this phenomenon – collectors from Asia also accounted for 31% of Christie’s sales in 2021. As a result, the auction house has announced plans to move into a new four-storey headquarters in Hong Kong in 2024.
Meanwhile, its rival, Phillips, will leave the Marriott Hotel later this year for the WKCDA Tower in West Kowloon, and have its 4,400 sqm of exhibition space and sales rooms spread over six levels – the ideal location to continue expanding into the Asian market.