Noted Filipino painter sets record in Sotheby art auction

A distinguished Filipino artist has become an instant star at Sotheby’s annual sale of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings in Hong Kong after he sold one of his artworks for a record of $1.1 million (P47 million). Ronald Ventura won at the auction for his painting “Grayground," besting other established artists in the region, according to a GMA News report aired on Saturday evening.
The report did not mention the highest bidder for Ventura’s canvas piece, which measures 60 inches by 155.75 inches. Total sales fetched during the auction stood at $13.8 million, tripling pre-sale estimates, said a report on Good News Pilipinas. The report quoted Sotheby’s head of Southeast Asian paintings Mok Kim Chuan as saying the record sales during the auction “proves that quality pieces fresh to the market continue to be coveted." “Our strong results both for established names and for younger artists making their first appearance at auction demonstrate a market in a healthy state of expansion," Chuan also said. The previous record sale was posted by Indonesia’s I Nyoman Masriadi’s “The Man from Bantul," which was sold for $1.001 million last October 2008, according to the report. Ventura, a fine arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, is touted as one of the country’s top-selling artist. He has been selling for five to six digits in auction houses abroad.—Jesse Edep/JV, GMA News