Hook charity auction raises £105,000

At the Victory Suite in the Rock Hotel on Thursday evening, excited hands waved as auctioneer Joey Imossi raised bids for an original equestrian artwork by Christian Hook.

Mr Imossi’s gavel finally struck down on the highest bid of £105,000 placed by crypto entrepreneur Sam Buxton, with the funds donated to the Peter J Isola Foundation.

The auction took place at a private showing of Christian Hook’s newest exhibition ‘This is it’ which opened exclusively for local residents.

The exhibition marks Mr Hook’s first solo exhibition in Gibraltar, and for him ‘This is it’ means this is the first and last opportunity to buy his work locally.

“It'll never happen again,” he said.

He told the Chronicle his work has now branched out to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) markets, and he expects prices for his artworks will increase.

Mr Hook currently sells his artworks for around £400,000 abroad, but in Gibraltar he has kept his prices low this time so the local market can buy before it is priced out.

“I thought just before I do [the UAE artworks] I'm going to do an exhibition and, in a way, where it doesn't affect the market over there,” he said.

“But something that I can do for Gibraltarians to be able to buy. So really, the paintings are roughly about a quarter of the price that they would cost in London.”

He was selling six pieces from his private collection, marking practically the entirety of his own collection.

In 16 years, he said, he has kept just over a handful of pieces.

“I don't have any attachment to my work at all. I just do it,” Mr Hook said.

“I only have one piece that I did for my grandmother, and when she passed away, I kept it. That's it.”

Alongside his private collection, Mr Hook showed his new collection ‘No Mud No Lotus’.

This collection is inspired by his nephew and niece, Tiago and Sofia, who were painting with felt pen and Mr Hook thought about how to work as if “starting from the beginning”.

He was also inspired by the desert in Dubai and the Bedouins.

“They still navigate through the desert, using the stars, the planets, and they get everywhere in time, they know all the seasons, all the right things to do, all the wrong things to do, etc,” Mr Hook said.

“So, I thought, I want to do something with this idea. With the help of AI, just to come up with random desert dwellers, instead of photographing the real ones, I like to see what it imagines.”

Using these images as reference he began to use collage patterns on his artworks in the shape of planets.

“It looks like an abstract work, but there’s a story behind it,” Mr Hook said.

“Then the horses are really interesting, because these Arabian horses that belong to the king, the ruler, they are very primitive.”

On Thursday evening, the focus was on his equestrian artwork ‘Hybrid Anime Horse’ which was auctioned with a reserve price of £30,000.

Trustee of the Peter J Isola Foundation, Albert Isola, opened the exhibition describing how the Foundation was “enormously grateful to [Mr Hook] for his donation of this exceptional piece”.

The scene was set with a video detailing Mr Hook’s success over the years, after which Jane Langdon held a question and answer with the acclaimed artist.

The auction, led by Joey Imossi, then began.

Enthusiastic hands waved as the price crept up slowly and by the final bids three contenders were left, with Mr Buxton swooping in with his final bid of £105,000.

Moments after placing the highest bid, Mr Buxton told this newspaper he had expected to “draw the line” at £80,000, but the excitement in the room took him over the line.

“I didn't have any intentions on buying anything today, but the scene was set and it made me feel like I wanted a piece of history,” he said.

“It’s a win-win. I bought my wife a present, the proceeds go to charity and I have a piece of Gibraltar's history now hung up on my wall forever, or until it's sold in the future.”