GENEVA.- Sotheby's Zurich is to hold its first sale dedicated exclusively to contemporary art when it offers an important Swiss private collection of contemporary art amassed in the 1990s. The auction will be held on May 31, 2005 at 7.30pm, at Sotheby's Zurich's, Gessnerallee, and comprises 87 lots estimated to fetch CHF 550,000-750,000*. Works include monochromes by Joseph Marioni, Marcia Hafif, Phil Sims and Herbert Hamak, photographs by Axel Hütte and Vik Muniz and works by Julia Mangold, Remy Zaugg and James Turrell that play with the look of color. According to the collector: "Color and Light" are the words that best describe this collection, since both color and light are intrinsic to most of the works it contains.

The collector tells us that as well as always having being drawn to art, he actually toyed with the idea of becoming an artist himself. However, life was to take a different course and he ended up pursuing a successful career with a large international group. In the 1970s, while living in the United States, he discovered Abstract Expressionism and Minimal Art, two major American 20th century art movements which were to influence his collecting during the 1990s. In early 2001, he decided on a radical change of lifestyle and retired from business. Then he added several more works to his collection, however, he tells of a visit to Art Basel where: "I realised I could no longer realistically continue expanding my collection following my change of situation and decided to sell it. I believe a major collection like mine only has a reason for existing if it can continue to evolve by the addition of new works. If not, it declines and becomes lifeless."

The collection - made up of monochromes, works that play with the appearance of colour, and photographs, can be summed up by the simple phrase: "Color and Light", for it is these two factors that are key to the coherence of the collection. At a more abstract level, they also combine with the collector's very specific interest in works that refer to: "the concepts of reality and appearance - which never completely coincide".

The monochromes include works by American painters such as Joseph Marioni, Marcia Hafif and Phil Sims, all artists of the Radical Painting Group of New York.

Joseph Marioni was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943. After studying art in his native city and San Francisco, he moved to New York, where he has lived since 1972. His paintings now hang in public and private collections around the world. The auction features two Marioni paintings, including an acrylic on canvas, Red Painting No 13. Dating from 1998, estimated to fetch CHF22,000-25,000.

From Marcia Hafif (1929), we have, among others, an oil on canvas entitled French Painting: Désirée, dating from 1990, which is estimated at CHF15,000-20,000.

There are several works by Phil Sims (1940) in the sale, such as an oil on canvas Untitled (CAT # 267), estimated at CHF10,000-12,000.

The auction also includes works by German artists such as Herbert Hamak (1952) with three monochromes including D 443 N, dating from 1999 (estimate: CHF4,500-6,000) and Günter Umberg (1942) with three paintings estimated between CHF6,000 and 12,000.

Several of the artists featured play with the appearance of color itself. One such artist is Julia Mangold (1966), a graduate of the Munich Akademie der Bildenden Künste, who has already been showcased in many European and US exhibitions. The auction includes two installations in steel, both estimated at CHF7,000-9,000.

The sale will offer two works by Swiss artist Remy Zaugg (1943), one dating from 1987-1989 and the other from 1994-2000. The first, entitled Blind Picture, is milky-white in colour and gives a real sensation of blindness, while the second, lacquer on aluminium entitled Mais moi je te vois, written in blue on a red background, aggressively assaults the viewer's eyes. Each is estimated at CHF8,000-10,000.

The highlight of the sale is undoubtedly a hologram (steel bases, glass and UV lamp) by American artist James Turrell (1943). This installation perfectly symbolises the "Color and Light" theme of the auction, and carries an estimate of CHF40,000-60,000.

Among the photographs featured, is Bowl by Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist born in Saõ Paulo in 1961 and now residing in New York. It is estimated to fetch CHF7,000-9,000. The photograph 'plays' with appearances. In the collector's words: "It is not clear in this work whether the bowl is appearing or disappearing. You merely feel that you are contemplating its ephemeral presence."

Also worthy of note is a photograph entitled Hvassafell, Island (estimate: CHF12,000-15,000) by Axel Hütte, a German artist who was born in Essen in 1951 and now lives in Dusseldorf.