Art is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, and those around the internet are seeing so many things!
On April 4, the 17th Seoul Auction was held at the Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View Hotel. Among the pieces auctioned off was one by Korean artist Kim Hwan Gi (1913-1974). The painting, Untitled (1970), is typical of Kim’s style toward the end of his life, when his work tended to consist mostly of dots.
In the final bid, the painting sold for a cool 33 million Hong Kong dollars, which is nearly 4.3 million US dollars. That’s not the most expensive painting ever sold, but it’s still mind-boggling that someone bought a painting for more money than most of us will probably ever spend over our entire lifetimes. Of course, to each their own, and art is in the eye of the beholder, right? Well, there are lots of eyes on the internet, and lots of opinions flying around too, so, as you may imagine, many are throwing in their 2 cents worth regarding what their eyes behold:
“Looks like it was a pain to paint. Kinda looks like crocodile skin.”
“That’s the thing about art. Picasso, for instance, his pictures are garbage. lol”
“I don’t think so, lol. If you don’t understand the worth of Picasso’s work that just means you don’t have an eye for art.”
“Is it a color blindness test?”
“Maybe it’s a stereogram?”
“But I don’t see anything when I cross my eyes.”
“This is what you see when you smush your face into a pillow, right?”
“Don’t think. Just feel.”
But one commenter seemed to feel very deeply for this painting:
“At first I thought this was just an average painting. But this is unexpectedly wonderful. If you stare at it steadily, other images begin to appear and disappear before your eyes. There wasn’t any image painted there originally — instead it seems like he used light and darkness to play with your eyes so that you would see what you want to see. Those who look at it will see what they want, hence it is Untitled. If you think about it that way, it’s truly profound.”
But it seems that not many can really see it being worth $4.3 million. That high bidder must have some truly deep appreciation for the art!
Now it’s your turn, readers. What do you see?
Source: 中央日報, Kinisoku, Wikipedia
Image via 中央日報