While cynics may laugh off the rather obscurantist connotations of Garau’s artwork, “Io Sono” is not the first piece of weird art to have made it to the headlines for its exorbitant selling price. “After all, don’t we shape a God we’ve never seen?” the artist asked reporters. The artist also compared his artwork to the idea of ‘God’, who is also formless and yet believed to exist in the form that we see them in. This, in turn, will lend various shapes and shades to the sculpture. The artist further added that by ‘exhibiting’ an invisible object in a certain space, the artist was actually trying to concentrate the viewers’ thoughts and perceptions on that empty space. According to the instructions, the sculpture is to be exhibited in a space with five by five dimensions and no obstructions inside a “private” house, ArtNet reported.
The ‘lucky’ buyer who managed to buy the ‘sculpture’ was given a certificate of authenticity and a set of instructions on how to “display” the invisible sculpture. Spanish news platform Diario AS further quoted the artist as saying, “…It has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.”
Speaking to reporters, Garau said, “The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that nothing has a weight”. According to the artist, despite lacking any physical form, the sculpture very much existed in its nothingness. The artwork, tirled Io Sono (meaning “I am”) went up for auction last month at an Italian auction house called Art-Rite. Created by 67-year-old artist Salvatore Garau, the sculpture was set to be auctioned for 6,000-9,000 Euros but ended up fetching 1,500 Euros ($18,300 or Rs 13.36 lakh approximately). The “immaterial” artwork is unusual in that it is ‘nothing’, meaning it literally does not exist in the material world. An Italian artist recently managed to auction an “invisible sculpture” for 1,500 Euros. What it’s really certifying though isn’t hard to imagine.If you thought non-fungible tokens were weird, behold, because the world of art just got weirder. The only thing you get with an “invisible sculpture” is a certificate of authentication. But at least if you buy one you can still watch a funny gif or appreciate a great photo. I also can’t stop imagining how much good someone could do with $18,000.
My best guess is an emperor not wearing any clothes. I can’t stop imagining who would buy something like this. Well, he’s right about one thing: this really does activate the imagination. Now it exists and will remain in this space forever.” It doesn’t matter whether it is visible or not, this form generated by thought is here now, above the white square space, exactly 25 meters in front of the entrance to the Gallerie d’Italia di Piazza della Scala in Milano city, Italy.
Just as music, songs or prayers help us to see what we do not see, so even a title feeling is enough to make us view and perceive an existence. “It is a work that asks you to activate the power of imagination, a power that anyone has, even those who don’t think they have it.