Italian artist sells invisible 'sculpture' for $22,000

TORONTO -

The good thing about buying a sculpture by Salvatore Garau is you don’t have to worry about accidentally knocking it over.

The Italian artist last month sold one of his works, an “immaterial sculpture” entitled ‘Io Sono’, for 15,000 euros (CAD$22,000), a price that was pushed up by a bidding war, according to news site italy24.com. This for a work that does not actually exist, at least in the material world.

"When I decide to “exhibit” an immaterial sculpture in a given space, that space will concentrate a certain quantity and density of thoughts in a precise point, creating a sculpture that from my title alone will take the most varied forms,” he said, according to the site.

The work comes with instructions that it be placed in a private house within a space free from any obstruction and at 150 by 150 centimeters in size.

This is not Garau’s first immaterial work as he recently displayed his sculpture, ‘Buddha in Contemplation’, in the Piazza della Scala in Milan.

An accompanying Instagram post shows a seemingly vacant squared-off area of the piazza with scrolling text that reads, “You do not see it but it exists; it is made of air and spirit… It is a work that asks you to activate the power of imagination.”