LOS ANGELES, CA.- An important lightbox from the late 1950s by Brazilian great Abraham Palatnik led Bonhams’ Tell Me What You Want (What You Really, Really Want) contemporary art auction on March 31 in Los Angeles by achieving $425,000, past a $150,000-250,000 estimate.

Palatnik is one of Brazil’s most important contemporary artists and is globally recognized as one of the foremost figures in the use of technology in art. He emerged to the national stage in 1951 with an early prototype for what would later come to be known as his kinechromatic devices. The piece, which could barely fit through the doorway, was a machine using colored light to create painterly images. He was allowed to exhibit it in the inaugural Sao Paolo biennial (1951) as long as he agreed not to compete for a prize (he received an honorable mention) as the organizers could not find a suitable category for his work. He would continue to explore the line of inquiry, collapsing the distance between painting and filmmaking.

The circa 1955 work that just sold at Bonhams is thought to be the only one of its kind. It is a purely chromatic version of the fully motorized kinechromatic devices of the 1960s (of which he made more than 30). It operates by hand-turning a knob on the side of the lightbox. Each rotation activates a new lighting composition producing 11 new kaleidoscopic images.

Palatnik lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. He participated in the first nine São Paulo biennials, and exhibited at the 32nd Venice Biennale in 1964 alongside fellow countrymen Almir Mavignier, Alfredo Volpi and Franz Weissmann. His works can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (who own a

kinechomateic device and a works in Jacarada wood), as well as some of the most important collections in Brazil, such as the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Museu de Artes Contemporânea Niterói, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paolo.

Commenting on the piece, Dane Jensen, Specialist in the Contemporary Art Department at Bonhams in Los Angeles, said “There continues to be a surging demand for progressive mid-century Latin American works and for early Op art—two categories which are now being re-evaluated by curators and the market alike. Bonhams, which holds the world auction record for Richard Anuszkiewicz’s work, has now further solidified, with the sale of this extraordinary work from Abraham Palatnik, our department as a leader in these two emerging markets. We look forward to continue to offer exceptional pieces from these and other rapidly evolving, dynamic segments of the contemporary art market.”

Collectors take note, Bonhams’ next auction of Contemporary Art at will take place May 12 in New York.