Over N160 million was realised on Monday at the May auction sales of artworks by ArtHouse Contemporary Limited, foremost Lagos-based art auction house.
Out of the total sales, about N161 million was realised from works in the main lots category, while charity lots grossed about N4.2 million.
The auction sales, which took place at the KIA Showroom at 308 Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, featured over 80 works across different media and courtesy of artists from generations of old and contemporary, legendary and fast-rising.
However, Igolo by Ben Enwonwu, late legendary artist, led the auction sales with a whopping N35 million final bid from a starting bid of N21 million.
As well, Negritude and Untitled, two other works by Enwonwu went for N8 million and N6, 200,000, respectively, breaking the record as the three most valued and sold works by same artist.
Even in the charity lots, Enwonwu’s work led with N920,000, the highest bid in that category.
Impressively, Peju Alatise’s Caged Bird’s Songs, went for over N4 million, above the bid for works by legendary Bruce Onabrakpeya, David Dale and Kolade Oshinowo that surprisingly struggled under N3 million and N4 million.
About two works were withdrawn while the proceeds from the charity lots will be donated to support the second edition of the Lagos Biennial, which will take place from October 26-November 30, 2019. The Charity Lots featured works by Ben Enwonwu, David Dale, Uche Okpa-Iroha, Duke Asidere, and Bisi Fakeye.
Reviewing the auction, Micah Onajite, a budding collector, observed that the collectors were not enthusiastic about bidding higher prices as if they agreed on a price range before coming.
Beyond the economic realities and cautiousness in spending before the inauguration of the new government, Onajite blamed the lack of enthusiasm by most collectors on the fact that most of the works were not top range.
He believes that the November auction would be better because by then, people would have known the economic direction of the government, as art collecting is an investment.
He assured that by November, new collectors would have emerged as most people at the May auction were regular faces.
