The artist who sold an invisible sculpture for over 15,000 euros and has more likes than Trump.

If you were surprised that Cattelan's famous banana tree sold for such an exorbitant price, this won't leave you indifferent. Sardinian artist Salvatore Garau, born in 1953, creates a type of art that doesn't take up much space anywhere. His work Io Sono (I Am) has taken the concept of immaterial art to the extreme: it is an invisible sculpture, but one that exists (always according to its creator) because it is made of air and spirit. It was auctioned in 2021 and sold for 15,000 euros.

The certificate of authenticity for the work read as follows: " Intangible sculpture to be placed in a space free from any obstruction. Variable dimensions, approximately 200 x 200 cm. Work accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the artist. Work filed under no. IM5. Provenance: Private collection, Milan. Estimate: €12,000 – €16,000."

As the artist explained, Io Sono doesn't have a physical presence, but rather a conceptual one. It isn't accompanied by any tangible object: what the buyer actually received was the aforementioned certificate of authenticity, which specified how and where to display it. Garau has explained on more than one occasion that he doesn't consider this a paradox, but rather the opposite : he believes it is precisely the emptiness that gives the work its power, as it is capable of stimulating the viewer's reflection and perception. From this point on, everyone can form their own idea.

In reality, the idea of ​​art transcending matter is not Garau's, but rather that other earlier artists (such as Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni ) had already challenged these boundaries between the visible and the invisible. Manzoni's famous The Artist's Shit should not be forgotten, while Klein took all this to the extreme by organizing an exhibition composed solely of empty space in 1958. Garau fits into this framework, asserting that Io Sono is in some way a response to the world of accumulation and consumption, where value is often linked to what can be physically possessed. The work invites us to consider the intangible as meaning. It also follows the trail of what Duchamp already said : if an artist defines something as art, then it can be. Garau simply takes this principle to its ultimate consequences.

Garau says that 'Io Sono' is in some way a response to the world of accumulation and consumption.

In fact, the controversial Italian artist has recently returned to international attention on Instagram thanks to Io Sono , which went viral after a post on the British platform Pubity, a social media giant with more than 40 million followers. The platform reshared the invisible work, and the post surpassed content featuring world figures such as Donald Trump, Keanu Reeves, and Gordon Ramsay in popularity, garnering more than one million likes, 34,000 comments, and 25,000 shares.

These staggering figures sparked a fierce online debate, underscoring the resonance of invisible art in the contemporary cultural landscape—a movement in which Garau is arguably a central figure . In May, Garau presented his most recent immaterial work, Self-Portrait , at Milan’s Spazio Roseto. The artist also argues that invisible art evokes, in the collective unconscious, a deep fear of emptiness—a fear that, in his view, defines the current global condition.

If you were surprised that Cattelan's famous banana tree sold for such an exorbitant price, this won't leave you indifferent. Sardinian artist Salvatore Garau, born in 1953, creates a type of art that doesn't take up much space anywhere. His work Io Sono (I Am) has taken the concept of immaterial art to the extreme: it is an invisible sculpture, but one that exists (always according to its creator) because it is made of air and spirit. It was auctioned in 2021 and sold for 15,000 euros.