León Ferrari

Private Collection, San Francisco
Private Collection, Miami (acquired from the above) 

The sculpture is in good condition overall. A few of the thin stainless steel rods on the exterior of the structure are bent. One solder joint has come apart. Some of the "feet" that support the structure are bent. The rods present an aged surface with minor surface soiling and oxidation. The sculpture is structurally sound.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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“Art is not beauty or novelty; art is effectiveness and disruption.” Leon Ferrari

Fleeing the political instability caused by the military regime in Argentina, León Ferrari emigrated to São Paulo in 1976. In this foreign but welcoming land Ferrari returned to the semi-abstract aesthetics of the early 1960s, resulting in sculptural constructions of great intricacy. 

Writing for the catalogue of the exhibition León Ferrari: Esculturas, Gravuras e Desenhos at the Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo in September 1978, Brazilian art critic Aracy A. Amaral described these elaborate sculptures as "linear galaxies, suspended nuclei within contained spaces, infinities confined in the vertical expansion of a prism. At first sight, these entangled works appear as cage-like prototypes of imaginary buildings simultaneously musical and poetic." The present work, Untitled (1981), is feverish with energy: an entanglement of delicate and deliberately joined wires the tower-like structure shuns quiet, undisturbed or serene contemplation.

The works of Ferrari have been exhibited extensively internationally, with the most critically acclaimed and lauded exhibitions organized by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2009, “León Ferrari and Mira Schendel: Tangled Alphabets”—a joint artist retrospective—and most recently “The Words of Others: León Ferrari and Rhetoric in Times of War” as part of Pacific Standard Time:LA/LA Getty Institute initiative. Ferrari was awarded the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2008). Additionally, his works can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), among others.