MIAMI, 5 November 2018 – Sotheby’s is honored to unveil the sale contents of the third (RED) Auction supporting the fight against AIDS, which has been curated by art and architecture stars Theaster Gates and Sir David Adjaye in collaboration with musician and activist Bono.

Centered on the theme of light and the color red, the collection of contemporary art and design will be exhibited and auctioned during Art Basel in Miami Beach and Design Miami/. Sotheby's will conduct a live auction on the evening of 5 December 2018 at the Moore Building in the Miami Design District, with international bidding available in real-time on sothebys.com. Sotheby's will also hold a complementary online auction, open for bidding from 12 November – 7 December.

Beginning on World AIDS Day (1 December), the 50+ works on offer across the (RED) Auctions will be exhibited publicly by Gagosian at the Moore Building. The viewing will extend through 7 December.

To date, (RED) has generated more than $500 million for the Global Fund to support lifesaving HIV/AIDS programs in Africa. Proceeds from this year’s auction will continue to support community-based programs in Africa through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, while also providing assistance to the HIV fight through community-strengthening programs in Chicago with the Rebuild Foundation – an organization championed by Theaster Gates.

Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and the auctioneer for the (RED) Auctions, said: “We are honored to work with Bono, David and Theaster to continue the successful tradition of (RED) Auctions at Sotheby’s. The 2008 sale was a groundbreaking event in the history of charitable auctions, and the second sale in 2013 upheld that legacy. We look forward to furthering this tradition in December, and raising much-needed funds for the fight against AIDS."

CONTEMPORARY ART HIGHLIGHTS

SEAN SCULLY
Red
2018
Estimate $350/450,000

Sean Scully’s work draws on the traditions of European painting while being invigorated with the distinct character of American abstraction. Scully’s varied practice encompasses printmaking, sculpture, watercolors and pastels, but he is best known for rich, largescale abstract paintings – including Red – in which stripes or blocks of layered color are a prevailing motif.

THEASTER GATES
A Flag for the Least of Them
2018
Estimate $450/500,000

Theaster Gates creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, he redeems spaces that have been left behind. Known for his recirculation of art-world capital, Gates creates works that focus on the possibility of the “life within things.” In all aspects of his work, he contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise – one defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.

JENNIFER GUIDI
Energy of Love (Painted Universe Mandala SF #4F, Red, Natural Ground)
2018
Estimate $120/150,000

The technique for Jennifer Guidi’s Universe Mandala series begins with the application of a drawing to a flat surface of sand derived from various sources such as maps, constellations, ancient depictions, and the artist’s imagination. The drawing is then covered with an oil paint mandala, leaving a trace to be detected underneath, allowing the drawing in the sand to come in and out of focus and prompting the viewer to explore the pure sensory experience of color, texture, luminosity, and form. Guidi provokes a contemporary version of the sublime, one in which the smallest details are of no less consequence than the totality of the big picture.

MARC QUINN
(RED) Eclipse
2018
Estimate $150/200,000

Marc Quinn's circular Anthropocene paintings of eclipses relate to his earlier series of iris paintings (We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars) and similarly use forms found within nature. These works derive their compositions from scientific photographs of various total and partial solar eclipses around the world. They are also taken at different times throughout the past 100 years, the earliest being from 1907. By using such a diverse timescale the artist shows the seeming immutability of cosmic cycles in comparison to the finite nature of human time. (RED) Eclipse was especially created to reflect the theme of this year’s auction: (RED) and Light.

YINKA SHONIBARE MBE
Red Lantern Kid
2018
Estimate $100/150,000

Yinka Shonibare MBE’s interdisciplinary practice uses citations of Western art history and literature to question the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities within the context of globalization. In Red Lantern Kid, the child figure – dressed in the artist’s signature Dutch wax fabric – represents the hope and optimism for future generations, while the lantern symbolizes hope in the wake of advancing medical research. The featured names on the globe are prominent activists, performers or supporters who agitated for the rights of AIDS sufferers at the height of the epidemic in the 1980s.

LEO VILLAREAL
Liminal Gradient for (RED)
2018
Estimate $40/60,000

Liminal Gradient for (RED) is an array of 1,024 LEDs and custom electronics contained within an acrylic diffuser. Custom software empowers the electronics to emit randomized gradients of red light. The work emphasizes Leo Villareal’s interest in creating preconceived environments from lowest common denominators including pixels or the zeroes used in binary code.

CONTEMPORARY DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS