One needs to read
the press release. Sometimes it's not what they say but rather what they don't say.
Secondly, a quick wikipedia search brings up this
list of most expensive photographs.
Of the top twenty, only one has this qualification:
'Anonymous collector. This purported sale was a private sale and not verifiable. All other sales on this list are public auction records' – yup, no prizes for guessing which sale they're referring to. And to further cast a modicum of doubt, the only sources listed are PMA Newsline, Peta Pixel, PR Newswire and Art Daily.
Taking three random recognized artists Gursky, Crewdson and Sugimoto (irrespective of one's personal opinion) and doing a quick google search < artist sotheby's> brought an immediate (first) hit for each one :
gursky lot 7, sold,
crewdson, lot sold, #1 from an edition of 6 plus 2 artists proofs
sugimoto, lot sold, #8 / from an edition of 6
Compare the above to Lik's 'New Release' posting on his website (screenshot below) – an edition of 950 limited and 45 artist proofs.
So today, out of the blue, PR Newswire release the news that, not one, but three works have been sold, for a total of $10,000,000 and in one 'coup' gives Peter Lik not only top spot, but a total of 4 entries in the top twenty. Again there is no identifiable buyer, no confirmation of any kind that its an arms length transaction and the only guys who are 'speaking' are the attorneys. There's no verifiable track record, just a whisper of a 'top-secret' printing process - ( of course one that guys like Jeff Schewe and Mark D Segal are blissfully ignorant of) – and an avalanche of self publicity.
Now, hypothetically speaking, if I was a cynical b'stard (which of course I'm not), given only the details above, I might be excused for suspecting that this could possibly be what, in stock market jargon, is sometimes referred to as 'pumping the market' and 'front-running'. It attracts attention, artificially raises the perceived value of Lik existing art, and starts a buying circle which feeds on itself – an upward spiral.
But being a trusting soul, I've no reason to doubt that it's all true. It's just that if one of his works were to be sold at a free-market auction ( Sotheby's or Christie's) much like Gursky et al we'd have a far more representative and verifiable reference point as to exactly where Peter Lik stands in the pantheon of modern day artists.
