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Article: Bar of 'soap' sells for US$18,000 at frenzied Art Basel
- Article from:
- China Daily
- Article date:
- June 22, 2005
CopyrightCopyright 2005 China Daily. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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BASEL, Switzerland: Perhaps the oddest piece of work at Art Basel
is a bar of soap, displayed on a square of black velvet, purportedly
made from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fat, removed
during liposuction.
Gianni Monti's work called "Clean Hands" the title is a play on
the name of an anti-Mafia group sold in less than an hour for 15,000
euros (US$18,000) to a private Swiss collector, according to Monti's
Galerie Nicola von Senger of Zurich.
The work from the Swiss-based Italian has shock value with a
twist, but Monti is not alone revelling in super-charged sales this
week at Art Basel, the world's largest annual art fair where 275