Soap Art For $18,000

Perhaps the oddest piece of work at Art Basel is a bar of soap, displayed on a square of black velvet, purportedly made from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fat, removed during liposuction. Gianni Monti's work called 'Clean Hands' - the title is a play on the name of an anti-Mafia group - sold in less than an hour for 15,000 euros ($18,000) to a private Swiss collector. Art Basel is the world's largest annual art fair where 275 dealers in modern and contemporary art display their wares making it a mecca for over 50,000 collectors and curators. Prices are soaring for star-quality artists, topping levels charged for the old masters in a market that has an estimated $20 billion annual turnover, making veteran art experts wonder if this feeding frenzy can really last. For the full story - click the title Irish Art