Ronald Ventura continues to smash auction sales records for a contemporary Filipino artist! At the Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st Century Inaugural evening sale over the weekend, his painting, "State of Bloom," went on to sell for HK$30 million, or approximately P265 million, shattering any of his previous record sales by almost double.
LOOK: Ronald Ventura's Painting "State of Bloom" Auctions for P265 Million at Christie's
In its lot essay, "State of Bloom" is described as a painting that "fuses elements of nature, machinery, and anything in between to convey a narrative on transformation, identity, and the intersection of organic and synthetic life."
Seen here is the painter's juxtaposition of modern machinery, humanity, naturalism, and, of course, humor. Its complex composition possibly details the influx of wealth and how it shapes infrastructure, materialism, and exploration.
According to Christie's, Ronald's painting created what it says is the "most energetic and competitive" bidding frenzy out of all the works put on sale. Directly bought from the artist, it was pitched to sell for an estimated range of just between HK$1.8m and HK$2.8m.
As it stands, the painting sold for a whopping 88 percent more than the artist's previous record sale, further cementing the Filipino painter's status as one of the most coveted artists in the Southeast Asian art market.
The Thirteen Artists Awards recipient first entered the global auction scene with “Greyhound” in 2011. It had a then-record price of HK$1.1 million, or about P47.1 million at the time, at Sotheby’s Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting auction in Hong Kong.
Since then, Ronald's works have achieved considerable success at Christie's. In 2014, "Wonderful Bait" sold for roughly HK$ 7.8 million or P50 million.
Seven years later, it would be broken by the famed acrylic and oil painting, "Party Animal," which was first shown at the Tyler Rollins Fine Arts Gallery in New York as part of his Wild State of Mind exhibit in 2017. This piece went for HK$19.4 or P120 million, again as part of Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st Century Inaugural evening sale in May 2021.
On the other hand, the contemporary artist's highest-sold artwork in the Philippines remains his largest in the local market with “Blind Mechanism." It was sold at Leon Gallery's Kingly Treasures Auction in 2022 for P57.3 million.
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