Asian artist’s gunpowder work sells for record $9.5 m at Christie’s

The paintings made by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang have become the most expensive works of contemporary Asian art to be sold at auction.

The paintings were auctioned at Christie’s.

Jonathan Stone, the international business director for Asian art at the auction house, said that the first day of the five-day autumn sales had achieved remarkable prices.

Christie’s took in 107 million dollars on the day, more than four times its estimate, with buyers from India, China, Europe and the United States.

Stone said that Guo-Qiang was very highly respected.

 “He’s very highly respected. It was a great work – rare, in good condition. There is a huge amount of worldwide interest in works of this strength,” Times Online quoted him, as saying.

“Contemporary Chinese art is a window into the changes in China in the past couple of decades, showing the country through the prism of the artist’s eye,” he said. (ANI)