Irish Photographer Sells Picture of Potato for $1 Million
How high could the price of a potato go? How about a photograph of one? It's not something one often thinks about, but now there's an answer: a million dollars.
According to a report from CNN, renowned Irish celebrity photographer Kevin Abosch recently sold his photograph "Potato #345" at an auction for an equivalent of $1,080,000. The sale to a European businessman was the visual artist's biggest in his entire career. The 46-year-old sold it over a few glasses of wine, after the buyer spotted in during dinner in Abosch's Paris residence.
"Potato #345" is a simple photograph of a common spud, but Abosch explained why he chose to take a picture of the ordinary garden produce and why it garnered a price tag that's higher than any of his usual celebrity portraits.
"I see commonalities between humans and potatoes that speak to our relationship as individuals within a collective species," says Abosch. "Generally, the life of a harvested potato is violent and taken for granted. I use the potato as a proxy for the ontological study of the human experience."
There are three prints of the now-famous image of the potato. One is part of his own private collection, a second has been donated to an art museum in Serbia and the third was the one sold to the businessman recently.
The sale price for the picture needs verification, but if it passes, "Potato #345" will take its spot as the 15th most expensive photograph sold in history. The top spot is still held by "Rhein II" shot by photographer Andreas Gursky. It was sold for $4.3 million in 2011.
In 2014, Peter Lik revealed that his image called "Phantom" broke the record for the highest-priced photograph at $6.5 million. However, since the sale price and buyer were not verified, it does not take the record officially.
Abosch's usual work usually fetches around $500,000. As one of the most well-known celebrity photographers in the world, he has worked with some of the biggest names in society including Bob Geldof, Malala Yousafzai, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and more.
Among his other acclaimed works of art, Abosch was also the photographer of the "Faces of Ireland", according to a report from the Irish Times. The exhibition series consists of 250 photos of people from all over the country.
He also has a number of contributions in the tech industry as the founder of secure communication platform Kwikdesk, as well as OneOne, a messaging app with several discreet messaging channels.
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