Become a Member ![\\"snopes](\\"/design/images/logo-main.png\\"/) Search My Profile Logout Submit a Rumor Latest Trending News & Politics Entertainment Fact Checks Quiz Sections Latest Trending Fact Checks News Collections More Contact Us Submit a Rumor Archives Quiz FactBot Newsletters About Us Categories News & Politics Entertainment Science & Technology Lifestyle Free accounts support our journalism Become a Member Login My Profile Logout ![\\"republican_symbol\\"](\\"/design/images/republican_symbol.png\\"/) Snopes fact-checked the vice presidential debate live! Read more here ![\\"democrat_symbol\\"](\\"/design/images/democrat_symbol.png\\"/) Fact Check # Did an \'Invisible Sculpture\' Sell for $18K? ## While the sculpture may not exist, the sale does. ### Dan Evon ### Published June 4, 2021 ![\\"](\\" of-Rating-Overlay-FEATURED-IMG-37.jpg\\") Image courtesy of Art Rite Auctions Claim: An invisible sculpture from artist Salvatore Garau sold at auction for $18,030. Rating: True About this rating In June 2021, news articles were published about an Italian artist who reportedly sold an invisible sculpture at auction for more than $18,000. Popular podcast host Joe Rogan posted a screenshot of one such article to their Instagram page which quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes. ![\\"\\"](\\" post.jpg\\")There are a number of things about this story that we can confirm. Italian artist Salvatore Garau exists. The Art Rite auction house where this sculpture was \"sold\" exists. A certificate of authenticity exists. But the sculpture? Let\'s just say we haven\'t seen enough evidence. Advertisement: According to the Art Rite auction house, this invisible sculpture, entitled Lo Sono, outdid its estimate and sold for €14,820.00 (about $18,030) on May 18, 2021, during the \"4-U new Contemporary Art Auction.\" The auction house lists all of the items sold at this auction here. You can see the listing for Garau\'s \"Lo Sono\" below. (It\'s the one that looks blank). ![\\"\\"](\\" house.jpg\\") This invisible sculpture was also put on \"display\" by the auction house. Art Rite auction allows visitors to their site to take \"3D tours\" of their auctions. The following image comes from this tour. We added a red arrow to help viewers find this invisible sculpture: Advertisement: ![\\"\\"](\\" auction.jpg\\") Advertisement: We reached out to the auction house for more information about this sale. While the name of the buyer has not been made public, the auction house wrote on its website that this anonymous buyer brought home a certificate of authenticity from the artist in addition to their intangible sculpture: ![\\"\\"](\\" Advertisement: Garau said in an interview with the auction house (translated via Google): > The “Invisible Sculptures”, what they are? > > Rather than invisible sculptures, I would define them as immaterial > sculptures. My fantasy, trained for a lifetime to feel differently the > existing around me, allows me to ‘see’ what apparently does not exist. The > intangible sculptures are works that I feel as physical. Into the void there > is a container of positive and negative possibilities that are constantly > equivalent, in short, there is a density of events. > > Furthermore, the void is nothing more than a space full of energy, even if > we empty it of electromagnetic fields, neutrinos, dark matter - in a way > that nothing remains - it stands out that according to the Heisenberg > uncertainty principle (which I recently read with enthusiasm) nothing has a > weight! Therefore, it has an energy that condenses and turns into particles, > in short, in us! The abstract and spiritual intuition I had as an artist is > then supported by science... > > Could you tell us about the creative process that led you to conceive the > “Absences”? > > For a long time, I have been attracted to what is perceived not only with > the eyes but with all the senses. Already in the black paintings of \'84 and > in the others later, black colour dissolved in a sort of ectoplasm, > indefinite amoebic presences, so that I wanted to make visible thought of > non-existent space. Advertisement: According to Artnet.com, Lo Sono is not the first invisible sculpture that Garau has created: > Lo Sono isn’t the only artwork of its kind in Garau’s oeuvre. In February of > this year, at the Piazza Della Scala in Milan, the artist exhibited BUDDHA > IN CONTEMPLATION, a similarly invisible sculpture demarcated by a square of > tape on a cobble-stoned walkway. Meanwhile, this week, he installed AFRODITE > CRIES in front of the New York City stock exchange. The effort, evidenced by > an empty white circle, was supported by the Italian Cultural Institute. Here\'s a video of the Buddha in Contemplation sculpture, which, to our untrained artistic eyes, bares a suspiciously similar resemblance to Lo Sono. > Advertisement: ### By Dan Evon Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes. ## Article Tags Joe Rogan Recommendations Advertisement: ![\\"Snopes.com\\"](\\"/design/images/logo-main.png\\") Company About Us FAQs Contact Us Submit a Topic Navigate Home Search Archive Newsletters Random Sections Latest Top Fact Checks News Account Join Login Game FactBot Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter © 1995 - 2024 by Snopes Media Group Inc. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com Terms of Use Privacy Policy DMCA Policy
An invisible sculpture from artist Salvatore Garau sold at auction for 18030