An auction selling the tattooed skin of Wolfgang Flatz, an Austrian performance artist and actor, has been halted following the sale of all twelve "art pieces" on sale for an unspecified "seven-figure sum."
The sale would have been held on Feb. 8 at Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne art museum and facilitated with support from the Christie's auction house, if not for the complete buyout of all the slots.
The buyer is an anonymous Swiss collector, who will be receiving high-quality greyscale photographs of the "pieces," at least until the originals can be posthumously handed over. That said, one specific tattoo titled "Dum Spiro Spero" ("While I Breath I Hope") is set to be given to Flatz's son.
Some of Wolfgang Flatz' tattooed skin pieces (L-R) "Physical Sculpture" (1995), "Part Animal Part Machine" (2021), and "Courage Does Good" (2008).
Behind the Wolfgang Flatz Sale
The auction was entitled "To Risk One's Own Skin," with an alternate name of "Carrying the Skin to Market," and was planned to be led by Christie's Chairman, Dirk Boll. Christie's has since removed the web listing of the auction lots after the complete buy-out.
According to The Art Newspaper, the auction house wrote a description for the sale saying that it "offers a unique opportunity to acquire a significant piece of art history's future," especially as it was the "first time" an art performer had auctioned off portions of his body while still being alive.
The once-in-a-lifetime sale was conceptualized as a lead-in to the Munich art museum's exhibition showcasing Flatz's oeuvre, dubbed "Something Wrong with Physical Sculpture. The show is planned to run through May of this year.
One of the featured activities during the exhibition is a chance for viewers to chuck darts directly at the artist's whole physique.
An unspecified portion of the auction's proceeds will act as funding for both the institution's Bavarian State Painting Collections and the artist's own Flatz Foundation, which he set up to nurture "artistic expression."
According to the Austrian artist's own website, the inspiration behind the auction and displays came from an antiquated traditional Japanese practice that saw an individual's tattoos cut out of their bodies after death.
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