I needn’t have worried. Sebastian’s a talker. And a reader. And is very smart. And funny. And busy – having just had a retrospective at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, been invited to give  a TED Talk and a yawn on Times Square.

This is an artist who likes to challenge conventional thinking – for his university thesis in Santiago he asked his professors if he could hand in the first and only blank thesis. Something people would actually look at versus the 200 pager students were required to submit. The university heads refused, only to write Sebastian 15 years after he’d graduated to say they’d changed their minds.

Sebastian reads six to seven newspapers a day looking for inspiration.

“For me it’s all about ideas. I need you to get my ideas as quickly as possible”.

This thought came to him after learning that on average three females and one male get killed by their partners everyday in the US.

The high rate of campus rape in the states inspired this jacket. Sebastian spouts off disturbing facts with alacrity. One in five women on a college campus will be raped. Eighty-five percent will know their attacker. Ninety percent of the cases will go unreported. Sebastian says:

“The male student athletes accused of rape often receive support from the schools while the girls tend to suffer public shame until silenced”.

Flying back and forth between NYC and Santiago during the Iraq war, Sebastian was used to seeing shell-shocked looking American soldiers in uniform. When he researched the statistics and discovered that twice as many soldiers committed suicide after the War than got killed in it, Sebastian was inspired to create this street art, “American Kills” in 2009. This image went viral and CNN ended up covering it.

Sebastian is also a talented and meticulous designer. Here are just a few of  his tools.

He makes everything from exploding maple cabinets to covetable heels to lamps that quack.

He is currently designing the interior and exterior of a G650, the biggest and fastest commercial jet available. He suggested to his South American client that the wing should read “Goodbye Losers”. The idea was vetoed, but maybe in 15 years…

February, 2015

The post A Chilean Looks Again appeared first on Elena Bowes.

(Image courtesy Phillips)

Phillips has also hired big gun curator Francesco Bonami to put together ‘A Very Short History of Contemporary Sculpture’, a ground floor exhibition where only two of the 33 works on show are for sale. In a back-breaking two months Bonami and his support team got a hold of pieces by  Carl Andre, Lygia Clark, Anthony Caro, Maurizio Cattalan, Urs Fischer, Robert Gober, Duane Hanson, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons to name just a few. Bonami said he wished they could have included a Richard Serra.

“The function of an auction house is to work more and more with museums, there’s an inevitable blurring of the boundaries,”

said the Italian art expert. Bonami (on the right) is telling Phillips staff including its new Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Dolman (on the left) about the eye-catching exhibition. Bonami’s impressive CV includes a lengthy stint at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, as well as curating top international shows such as the Venice and Whitney Biennales.

The ‘Left Handed Drummer’ above by Barry Flanagan is one of the two works for sale in Bonami’s show (estimate at £400,000-600,000).

My favourite piece is this Gustav Klimpt-esque hanging tapestry made from copper wire and sliced aluminium bottle caps by Ghana artist El Anatsui. It’s called ‘Earth Developing More Roots’.

“This is one of the most important works here,” says Bonami about the disconcerting 1992 Charles Ray sculpture of a boy above (with a Donald Judd to the right). “To explain to someone that this is more important (historically) than Koons is not easy.”

The pricier works will be auctioned off at the inaugural Evening Sale next Wednesday, October 15th. Check them out downstairs on the lower ground floor. Street artist Banksy mourns the death of the traditional red phone box, a piece of street art if there ever was one.

Less expensive works – like this pumpkin chess board by Kusama – are on the 6th floor, as is the energy boosting ‘Windows on the Square’ cappucino bar and views, glorious views of London.

Above is a colourful Chris Ofili hanging on the 1st floor.  The Turner Prize-winning British artist is having a show at the New Museum in NYC later this month.

Last week many of you know that I made a new BFF.

Well, sorry Victoria, but I am a fair weather friend. This week’s new BFF’s are Sara Tayeb-Khalifa and Philae Knight, Phillips’ client services dynamic duo, standing alongside a witty Harland Miller oil painting. They’re smart, funny, knowledgeable and give me free cappuccinos.

October, 2014

The post The Mouse that Roared appeared first on Elena Bowes.