This week an auction featuring the latest works from a new wave of exciting British contemporary artists is live on Catawiki, Europe’s fastest growing online auction site. The auction, which has 149 lots including provocative new works by Hayden Kays and pieces by acclaimed artist Damien Hirst, signals the launch of the new contemporary art category on Catawiki. The works are available to purchase online and for a limited time only.
Much of the new and unseen work explores thought-provoking themes, such as religion, masculinity and consumerism that are making newspaper headlines today.
Included is a new and unseen piece by celebrity favourite Hayden Kays, entitled ‘Beach Burqua Beautiful,’ which features a 100-dollar bill printed on a large beach towel with Benjamin Franklin sporting a burqua. Other works available for auction include a previously unseen set of images and sculptures by Matt Lambert, depicting male faces under comic book hero masks; an exploration of duality in masculinity, the collection captures the struggle between a desire to be strong and the ever-present fear of inadequacy and vulnerability. Emerging female artist Zoe Moss also features in the auction, with a set of photo-realist pieces visiting famous icons with a humorous and ironic narrative.
The works in the auction echo the recent undercurrent of social commentary in high profile art works; from Banksy’s Dismayland and more recently, his iconic reflection of the global refugee crisis, which saw an image of Steve Jobs sprayed on a wall in the Calais refugee camp called “the Jungle,” intended to address negative attitudes towards the thousands of people living there.
The works, which were exhibited last week at The Cob Gallery in Camden are available to bid on at http://auction.catawiki.co.uk/international-contemporary-art-auction until Saturday 30th January 2016.
New works in the auction include the following:
- ‘Beach Burqua Beautiful’ 2016 – Hayden Kays: Beach Burqua Beautiful features a 100-dollar bill printed on a large beach towel, with a burqua-clad Benjamin Franklin
- ‘Good Artists Borrow, Great Artist Steal’ 2016 – Hayden Kays: a continuation of theme seen in much of Kays work that highlights that money as art
- ‘You will always want more than I can give’ 2016 – Matt Lambert: a clay sculpture, of a figurine
- ‘New Religion’ Facebook sculpture – Imbue: mocking modern societies fixation with social media, the sculpture depicts Jesus on the iconic blu ‘F’ of Facebook
Anthony Chrisp, Catawiki’s specialist art auctioneer, who has curated the auction comments, “There are some big themes being explored in this collection and we’re hugely excited to be putting these pieces to auction. More and more, people are looking for more than just a generic print, instead looking for something that tells a story and acts as an expression of their opinions on the world.”
