Extraordinary sculpture highlight of Bonhams second Middle East auction

The extraordinary 'Mountain' by Turner Prize-winning Anish Kapoor will be a key highlight of the auction, and is estimated to fetch between $1,800,000 and $2,600,000. Originally commissioned by the city of Malmö, Sweden as part of the exhibition Bo01, the work is constructed from 120 water-jet cut 2 cm thick aluminium layers mounted on an internal structure.

Born in India, Kapoor is a renowned British artist who has a reputation for capturing the imagination of the world with his extraordinary projects, emerging in the UK in the early 1980s as a sculptor working in a vivacious new style. Widely acknowledging that his conceptual pieces are inspired by both Western and Eastern cultures, Kapoor's work is collected worldwide by museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, London's Tate Modern and the Guggenheim Bilbao.

"For Bonhams to offer a museum-quality piece at our second Middle East auction is proof positive of the importance of the UAE as an emerging global cultural hub," said Matthew Girling.

"Our first Middle East auction in March this year broke a total of 33 world records, including Iran's Farhad Moshiri becoming the first Middle East artist to achieve an auction sale of over $1m. We are firm believers that this region has a lot to contribute to the forward momentum of the global arts scene, and we are only just now witnessing its emerging importance."

Importantly, Bonhams is leading the way with developing and nurturing an indigenous national psyche of arts appreciation by showcasing prominent works from Emirati artists such as Abdul Qadir Al-Rais and The Flying House collective. In addition, over 50% of the works highlighted in the auction are from some of Iran's greatest and emerging artists, with many of the works of museum-quality.

Notable amongst these Iranian pictures is a large and dynamic work by Faramarz Pilaram (Estimate $500,000-700,000) and a rare work by pioneer artist Sohrab Sepehri from his 'Tree' series (Estimate $400,000-600,000).

Bonhams' 24 November auction will also feature works by Farhad Moshiri, Parviz Tanavoli, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, Mohammad Ehsai, Francis Newton Souza, and Anish Kapoor, Paul Guiragossian, Ali Omar Ermes and Issam El-Said.
The sale will include paintings, ink and charcoal drawings, photographs, collages and art installations, demonstrating the variety and richness of modern and contemporary art in the UAE, Iran, India and Pakistan.

A joint venture with the locally-based Al Tajir family, Bonhams Dubai opened its first Middle East office in Jumeirah last year which signified a major step forward in the company's rapid global expansion.

Bonhams is today one of the world's largest and fastest growing auction houses. With worldwide gross sales of nearly $600m in 2007, Bonhams is one of the three major players in the global fine art auction market and has a further three Middle East auctions planned for 2009.