Yoshitomo Nara's Cartoon Girl sold in Hong Kong for record $25 million

As per reports, a painting by a Japanese Artist Yoshitomo Nara has been sold for a record $25M USD. The painting is of a caricature of a girl titled as "Knife Behind Back" and was sold in Hong Kong which was part of Sotheby's 5-day auction. The auction was held near a Hong Kong protest area. 

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Details of the auction

The auction was held at Hong Kong's convention centre where the city's protests have taken place. The auction is part of Sotheby's five-day marathon auction which will continue through October 8, includes 20 live auctions, and aims at more than $336 million in total sales. The key highlight of the event, however, was the October 6 contemporary auction where Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara's painting of a cartoon girl titled "Knife Behind Back" was sold for a record $24.9 Million USD. 

Yoshitomo Nara's paintings had 6 bids and were sold in 10 minutes which was five times more than artists' auction record as per Sothebys. The seven-foot by seven-foot canvas was finished in 2000 when Nara came back to Japan after spending 12 years in Germany. On October 5, Sothebys sold a painting by a Chinese artist Sanyu for $25.2 million. On the same day, her painting had four bidders which pushed the modern art female painting above the $19 million target. 

In the same sale, Zao Wou-Ki's "21.04.59" sold for $13.3 million. The auction also includes jewels, wines, watches, and fine art for massive price tags which is in sharp contrast to the event that is unfolding in the city's streets.

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Recent Hong Kong developments

Reports indicated that a video purportedly showed a blood-soaked taxi driver was pulled out of his car and was stomped on by a group of protesters after the taxi hit them. On October 4, a 14-year-old boy was shot and injured, which was the second such incident of the previous week during a confrontation between a plain-clothes police officer and protesters who had attacked his car. The protests have come after warning from opposition leaders that Chief Executive Carrie Lam's decision to enact a colonial emergency law which bans protesters from wearing face masks were making matters worse. 

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(With inputs from Agencies)