Sales were off to a strong start right out of the gate at the opening day of Art Basel, underscoring the booming global art market and the big business conducted at international fairs (see The Definitive Frieze New York 2015 Sales Report)

Pace Gallery reports that its presentation of work by Robert Rauschenberg sold out immediately (see Must-See Guide to Art Basel).

Robert Rauschenberg, Chaperone II (1990) sold for $450,000.
Image ©Robert Rauschenberg/Licensed by VAGA, New York NY

The gallery sold seven Rauschenberg works from the 1980s and 1990s  at prices ranging from $450,000–$1 million to US buyers and one Russian collector.

The most expensive of these was Untitled (Salvage) (1984), an acrylic on canvas that sold for $1 million. Next in line was Porcelain (Salvage) (1984), which sold for $750,000.

Robert Rauschenberg, Porcelain (Salvage) (1984) sold for $750,000.
Image ©Robert Rauschenberg/Licensed by VAGA, New York NY

And Hauser & Wirth also reported that business was booming. The gallery sold all four pieces by artists whose expansive work was included in the “Unlimited” section of the fair. These included Zhang Enli’s Space Painting (2014) that the K11 Art Foundation of Hong Kong picked up for an undisclosed amount.

Pierre Huyghe’s Cambrian Explosion (2014) sold to a private collection for €500,000 ($562,000). An edition of Martin Creed’s Work No. 1701 (2013) sold for $65,000, and Jakub Julian Ziolkowski’s Imagorea, (2013–2014), was placed in a private collection in Asia, and sold for an undisclosed amount.

Mike Kelley Untitled (from the series “Half a Man”) (ca. 2004 – 2006).
Image: © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts
Courtesy the Foundation and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Joshua White

From its regular stand at the main fair, Hauser & Wirth sold a colorful Mike Kelley stuffed animal assemblage from the series “Half a Man” (2004–2006) for an undisclosed amount.