Sotheby’s Brings Contemporary Art Sealed Auction to Asia for the First Time
Offering bidders the chance to acquire Yoshitomo Nara’s ‘Agent Orange (In the Milky Lake)’, a captivating painting produced in 2009.
In the first fine art auction of its kind in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s Sealed Auctions brings collectors the exhilaration and competition of a public auction whilst providing the security of a private sale. The highly coveted artworks, luxury vehicles, and additional top-tier offerings Sotheby’s offers through this platform are one-of-a-kind — so it only makes sense that this unique bidding process reflects the uniqueness of each product.
On the platform, bidders can explore the story of every item, diving into the background and rich history of each. If interested in making a bid, auction participants can log into the site using their Sotheby’s login credentials and place their offer. Sealed bid auctions ensure discretion, so bidders are only able to view their own submitted bid.
Once submitted, collectors can elect or raise their offer at any time while the auction is still live — and the Sotheby’s Sealed platform is built to keep contenders in the loop along the entire process.
Sotheby’s Sealed will be accepting bids for Agent Orange (In the Milky Lake) by Yoshitomo Nara, a tender portrait painted by the acclaimed Japanese artist in 2009. Yoshitomo Nara’s big-headed girls, variously shy, aggressive, pensive, fragile and strong, capture the essence of childlike wonder and display the multifarious experiences of growing up. Agent Orange (In the Milky Lake) is part of a limited series of paintings that depict his signature childlike figure submerged in a white, milky lake.
Some of his earlier works include similar motifs, such as Fallen Angels (1986) and the girl in Pandora’s Box (1990), but this particular depiction alludes to the chemical weapon used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. As Nara grew up in proximity to a U.S. military base in Japan, many of his paintings symbolize his experience as well as the impact of war on the local youth. Juxtaposing themes of childlike wonder with angst and revolt, Nara holds a mirror to his early childhood encounters.
Between the years of 2000 and 2012, Nara Nara produced a limited series of eleven large-scale canvases featuring his evocative heroine standing within a lake, cementing Agent Orange (In the Milky Lake) as a truly coveted find for Sotheby’s bidders.
To learn more about the auction process, visit sealed.sothebys.com/yoshitomo-nara-agent-orange.
