Italian artist Salvatore Garau just sold his invisible sculpture for over $18,000, reports ArtNet. The sculpture is nothing more than empty space.

  • The artwork titled “lo Sono” — “I Am” in Italian — is a 5-by-5 foot square free of obstructions, according to ArtNet.

“You don’t see it but it exists; it is made of air and spirit,” according to Garau via The New York Post,

Is it really an invisible sculpture?

Arguably, yes. The sculpture is literally nothing, said ArtNet.

However, to the artist, the sculpture is far from nothing, reported The New York Post.

  • “The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that nothing has a weight,” Garau said per ArtNet.

This piece is Garau’s third invisible masterpiece this year. In February, he installed an invisible sculpture titled “Buddha in contemplations” in Milan, said ArtNet. The piece is marked by a square of tape on a cobblestone street.

  • “It is a work that asks you to activate the power of the imagination, a power that anyone has, even those who don’t believe they have it,” Garau said per ArtNet.
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“Rather than invisible sculptures, I would define them as immaterial sculptures. My fantasy, trained for a lifetime to feel differently the existing around me, allows me to ‘see’ what apparently does not exist,” Garau said per Yahoo News.

How do you sell an invisible sculpture?

Art-Rite Auction House in Milan handled the sale of the artwork. After a “hard-fought” auction, the piece sold for $18,300, said ArtNet and Yahoo News.

  • The auction house estimated the value of the piece to be between $7k and $11k, per The New York Post.

The buyer will receive a certificate of authenticity, validating the existence of the sculpture and instructions for its installation, said ArtNet:

  • “Io Sono” must be exhibited in a private house with a five-foot by five-foot space free from any obstructions, the artist instructed per ArtNet. The piece does not need “artificial lighting and climate control,” Garau said via The New York Post.

Who would buy an invisible sculpture?

The name of the buyer has not yet been released publicly, said Yahoo News. However, the buyer is “thought to be an art collector from Milan.”

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