My auction colleague Sly was incredulous. He had watched as a gilt painted wall sculpture sold for $14,000, and he couldn’t understand why.
Maybe it was made by a named artist, I said, trying to calm him. But he wasn’t hearing it. Sly is used to pay 2 bucks for auction items that he sells at flea markets, so an item would have to be encased in diamonds before he’d pay $25 for it.
Then, a large white cloud came up for auction and it was time for me to be incredulous. I had seen two of them high on a wall in the auction house, figured they were all art and kept stepping. Now, the first of them was being offered. (I later learned that the auction house had sold several of these sculptures in the past, but I had never noticed them.)
The auctioneer read the description from the auction bid sheet – “fluffy, acrylic wall cloud …” He mentioned three other points: the last word in the description, the artist’s name and another important detail about them. The two sculptures sold for $325 and $375.
They’re more than just clouds, so what are they? Click on the photo to find out.
