Legendary Photographer Peter Lik Shatters World Record With $6.5 Million Sale Of "Phantom" 
 
 Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you have any questions or comments about this page please contact pressreleases@worldnow.com. 
 
 SOURCE LIK USA 
 
 Award-Winning Photographer Now Holds Four of the Top 20 Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold 
 
 LAS VEGAS, Dec. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, LIK USA™ announced the sale of the most expensive photograph in history by world-renowned fine art photographer, Peter Lik. "Phantom" sold to a private collector for an unprecedented $6.5 million. The purchase also included Lik's masterworks "Illusion" for $2.4 million and "Eternal Moods" for $1.1 million. With this $10 million sale, Lik now holds four of the top 20 spots for most expensive photographs ever sold. He already has a position in the ranking with a previous $1 million sale of famed image, "One." 
 
 "The purpose of all my photos is to capture the power of nature and convey it in a way that inspires someone to feel passionate and connected to the image," said award-winning fine art photographer Peter Lik. 
 
 "Phantom" and "Eternal Moods" are black and white representations of Lik's iconic images "Ghost" and "Eternal Beauty." Lik is known for his artistic approach to landscape photography and capturing Mother Nature's vibrant colors. His use of black and white imagery is a rare and compelling departure from his normal style. 
 
 "Certain textures and contours found in nature lend themselves beautifully to black and white photography," said Lik. "The intensity of contrasting light and dark spaces was surprising, but made for some of the most powerful images I've ever created." 
 
 The private buyer is represented by Joshua Roth of the Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro, LLP firm, 10250 Constellation Blvd., 19th Floor, Los Angeles, Calif. 90067, who indicated his client preferred not to be publicly identified for security and privacy reasons. Peter Lik and LIK USA™ are represented by their attorney, Mark G. Tratos of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. 
 
 "It is noteworthy that the sales of these photographic works denote another milestone in the development of fine art photography, as well as a new benchmark for the value of Peter Lik works," said Tratos. 
 
 These sales may be confirmed through the buyer's counsel, Joshua Roth. 
 
 "Our client is a long-time collector of Lik's works and is delighted to add these one-of-a-kind photographs to his impressive collection," said Roth. 
 
 About Peter Lik 
 
 Peter Lik began capturing the wonders of nature as a young boy in his native Australia and never stopped. In 1984, Lik migrated to the U.S. and discovered his passion for panoramic photography. One of Lik's most notable projects, "Spirit of America," is a 50-state landscape exploration of perilous deserts, ethereal mountain peaks, lush fields and glimmering cityscapes. Peter Lik's love for America and its landscapes led him to become a naturalized citizen in 2013. Over the years, Lik's career has been marked with award wins as a Master Photographer from both the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) and the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). He has also been awarded fellowships from the British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP) and The Royal Photographic Society (RPS). In 2011, Peter jumped into mainstream culture by starring in the NBC-produced TV series, "From the Edge with Peter Lik." With 14 galleries around the United States, Peter Lik counts presidents and celebrities among his collectors. Lik's masterworks "Ghost" and "Inner Peace" have been included in an exhibition of Nature's Best Photography at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. 
 
 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141209/163074 
 
 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/legendary-photographer-peter-lik-shatters-world-record-with-65-million-sale-of-phantom-300006716.html 
 
 ©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. 
 
 
 
 

 CLOSE Arizona Republic columnist Ed Montini and reporter Richard Ruelas discuss the Antelope Canyon photo that sold for a record price. 
 
 Peter Lik's "Phantom" was sold for $6.5 million. (Photo: PRNewsFoto/LIK USA) 
 
 The world's most expensive photo depicts Arizona's Antelope Canyon, near Page on the Navajo Reservation. 
 
 Landscape Photographer Peter Lik sold his print, titled "Phantom," for $6.5 million to a private collector in November. 
 
 The black-and-white photo depicts an underground cavern inside Arizona's Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon formed as rainwater eroded the stone into narrow passageways. 
 
 BUY PHOTOS: How to get a photo of Antelope Canyon for $6.95 
 
 The canyon, first opened to the public in 1997, attracts photographers and sightseers to marvel at its uniquely smooth, flowing corridors and arches, Navajo Nation parks officials said. 
 
 MORE PHOTOS OF ANTELOPE CANYON 
 
 "Certain textures and contours found in nature lend themselves beautifully to black and white photography," Lik said in a press release. "The intensity of contrasting light and dark spaces was surprising, but made for some of the most powerful images I've ever created." 
 
 Guardian columnist Jonathon Jones was quick to call the photo "derivative, sentimental in its studied romanticism, and consequently in very poor taste." 
 
 Jones said the photo is beautiful in a "slick way" that is a better fit for a "posh hotel" than the annals of art history. 
 
 But Lik and his "Phantom" will continue to haunt art history for some time seeing as how Lik now holds four of the top 20 spots for most expensive photographs ever sold, according to Lik's website. 
 
 Lik sold "Phantom" along with two other prints, "Illusion" for $2.4 million and "Eternal Moods" for 1.1 million. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1DcafXX 

 Peter Lik’s “Phantom” was sold for an unprecedented $6.5 million, the most expensive photograph in history. (PRNewsFoto/LIK USA) 
 
 Australian photographer Peter Lik will rarely pass up an opportunity to show his biceps. There he was, wearing a cowboy hat, trekking up a snowy mountainside, arms bare. There he was, behind the wheel of a green truck, flexing. And there he was, straddling an arid dune, triceps sunburned. 
 
 Photographer Peter Lik in 2011 (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) 
 
 Lik is even less shy about his accomplishments. He describes himself both as the “world’s most influential fine art photographer” as well as “one of the most important artists of the 21st century.” It’s obvious promotional hype, but Lik does indeed now command worldwide distinction. 
 
 This week, he sold a photograph named “Phantom,” showing a shaft of light cutting through a monochromatic Arizona landscape. The price: $6.5 million. That’s reportedly the most ever paid for a photograph. (The identity of the buyer wasn’t disclosed, but his lawyer, Joshua Roth of Los Angeles, vouched for him in a press release.) 
 
 The sale was only the latest big-time score for the Australian photographer, who has made a career out of shooting landscapes and wearing cowboy hats. Despite Lik’s “dismissal by art critics,” as one paper put it, his shtick nonetheless has great resonance among buyers — to the consternation of staid art experts. 
 
 “In 2014, Peter shattered all world records by selling the most expensive photograph in history,” his Web site said. “… To accompany this sale, Peter’s images ‘Illusion’ and ‘Eternal Moods’ were also acquired for $2.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively. Along with his sale of ‘One’ for $1 million in 2010, Peter now holds four spots out of the top 20 most expensive photographs ever sold.” 
 
 The list he joins includes some of the world’s most-established photographers, including Andreas Gursky, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall. They’re all considered artists of the highest order who broadened the conceptual limits of photography and held exhibitions in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries. Most of their priciest work sold at auction houses. And now, there’s Lik, whose $6.5 million photograph sold privately. How has this relatively unknown outsider done it? 
 
 
 
 This 1999 Andreas Gursky photograph provided by Chrisitie’s shows the Rhine River. Titled “Rhein II,” the chromogenic color print face-mounted to acrylic glass was sold for $4.3 million in 2011. (AP Photo/Christie’s, Andreas Gursky) 
 
 It begins with a level of salesmanship unusual for an artist: Lik did a short-lived reality TV show called “From the Edge,” for example. He also advertised on the Jumbotron in Times Square. 
 
 But to Guardian Art Critic Jonathan Jones, Lik’s “Phantom” says more about the growing role of technology in photography than it does art — a label he doesn’t think Lik’s work warrants. “Phantom is a black-and-white shot taken in Antelope Canyon, Arizona,” he wrote. “The fact that it is in black and white should give us pause. Today, this deliberate use of an outmoded style can only be nostalgic and affected, an ‘arty’ special effect. We’ve all got that option in our photography software. Yeah, my pics of the Parthenon this summer looked really awesome in monochrome. Lik’s photograph is of course beautiful in a slick way, but beauty is cheap if you point a camera at a grand phenomenon of nature.” 
 
 But that’s pretty much all Lik does. He describes himself as “synonymous” with “pristine images” of nature, which he pursues with the restless ebullience of the Crocodile Hunter. “The quality of production and [his] imagery is great,” Megan Dick, the director of Australia’s MiCK gallery, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The quality of art is not.” She said art was driven by ideas — not documentation. “Being such a literal interpretation of the subject, landscape photography is more in the realm of documentary rather than art.” 
 
 Some art experts haven’t been able to figure out how, then, his artwork has sold for so much. They’re pretty, no doubt, in the way that your desktop background and screensaver are pretty. But with millions of dollars at stake, does prettiness cut it? “These prices are very high and certainly, in terms of other successful photographic artists, seem somewhat bizarre,” the Herald quoted art consultant David Hulme saying. Commenting on one of Lik’s pieces that went for $1 million, he added: “I don’t fancy the owner’s chances of recouping anywhere near what he paid for this one.” 
 
 That assessment hasn’t stopped Lik from selling. Take it from photographer Scott Reither, who also sells pictures and once worked as one of Lik’s salesmen. He wrote a lengthy blog post on his travails in which he spoke of hustling photographs like a used car salesman and pushing fine art on a Las Vegas clientele caught up in “impulsive behavior while visiting Sin City.” Reither said he sold $700,000 worth of Lik’s photography in seven months and quit, unable to “stomach it any further.” 
 
 “I felt like I had to feed people a bunch of lies,” he wrote, questioning the “absurd pricing structure for the not-very limited editions of 950″ prints: “I know the subject of art and value is a touchy and sensitive subject, and I know there’s plenty of foolish people that will pay a ridiculous amount of money for something solely because it’s priced at a ridiculous amount of money … the discussion with prospective buyers had to become about value, [and] I was done because I did not believe in the value of the product.” 
 
 The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones likewise questions the value of the $6.5 million “Phantom.” He said Lik merely took an already stunning view and “added nothing of value to what was already there. … Someone has been very foolish with their money, mistaking the picturesque for high art.” 

 “Phantom” Sells for an Astounding $6.5 Million 
 
 Peter Lik has officially made art history by selling the most expensive photograph ever – setting a world record. An official press release was issued today, outlining details on the $6.5 million sale of masterwork, “Phantom.” 
 
 One of Peter’s all-time, favorite places to shoot lies in the Southwestern region of the United States, where he is continually drawn to Arizona’s Antelope Canyon – a slot canyon carved out by natural flowing water over the course of millions of years. It is here, in a subterranean cavern, that Peter captured “Phantom” – a stunning, black & white depiction of a ghostlike figure. 
 
 The private collector, who purchased the $6.5 million “Phantom” in November 2014, also acquired Lik’s masterworks “Illusion” for $2.4 million and “Eternal Moods” for $1.1 million. With this incredible $10 million sale, Lik now holds four of the top 20 spots for most expensive photographs ever sold. He already has a position in the ranking with a previous $1 million sale of famed image, “One.” 
 
 For over 30 years, Peter has followed a calling to capture and share the most beautiful places on earth. A myriad of awards and accolades mark the career of a dedicated and talented artist – a man who came from humble beginnings in his native Australia. This historic moment only further proves that Peter Lik is undoubtedly a true leader in the world of fine art. 
 
 Congratulations Pete! 
 
 / Click here to read the press release. 

 Photography is not an art. It is a technology. We have no excuse to ignore this obvious fact in the age of digital cameras, when the most beguiling high-definition images and effects are available to millions. My iPad can take panoramic views that are gorgeous to look at. Does that make me an artist? No, it just makes my tablet one hell of a device. 
 
 The news that landscape photographer Peter Lik has sold his picture Phantom for $6.5m (£4.1m), setting a new record for the most expensive photograph of all time, will be widely taken as proof to the contrary. In our world where money talks, the absurd inflated price that has been paid by some fool for this “fine art photograph” will be hailed as proof that photography has arrived as art. 
 
 Yet a closer look at Phantom reveals exactly the opposite. This record-setting picture typifies everything that goes wrong when photographers think they are artists. It is derivative, sentimental in its studied romanticism, and consequently in very poor taste. It looks like a posh poster you might find framed in a pretentious hotel room. 
 
 Phantom is a black-and-white shot taken in Antelope Canyon, Arizona. The fact that it is in black and white should give us pause. Today, this deliberate use of an outmoded style can only be nostalgic and affected, an “arty” special effect. We’ve all got that option in our photography software. Yeah, my pics of the Parthenon this summer looked really awesome in monochrome. 
 
 Lik’s photograph is of course beautiful in a slick way, but beauty is cheap if you point a camera at a grand phenomenon of nature. The monochrome detailing of the canyon is sculptural enough, and a shaft of sunlight penetrating its depths becomes the phantom of the title. Yet, in fact, this downward stream of light is simply a natural aspect of Antelope Canyon. Look it up online and you will find a vast range of photographs that all show the same feature. They are all just as striking as Phantom. The photographer has added nothing of any value to what was there already. Google is full of “great” pictures of this awe-inspiring natural feature. 
 
 Someone has been very foolish with their money, mistaking the picturesque for high art. 
 
 As a colour picture without any arty claims, this would be a valuable record of nature. Instead, it claims to be more than that; it aspires to be “art”. It is this ostentatious artfulness that pushes it into the realm of the false. For the artistic ambition of this picture is so very derivative from paintings that were created more than a century ago. Just like the very first “art” photographers in the Victorian age, Lik apes the classics in order to seem classic. 
 
 Phantom aims for the sublime, that sense of awe in front of nature that was described by Edmund Burke in the 18th century and taken to lavish heights by painters in the 19th. American painters especially, such as Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt, used a heightened romantic style to express the grandeur and amazement of the American landscape. Later, Georgia O’Keeffe added a surreal dreaminess to the west’s iconography. Film-makers, above all John Ford, were influenced by the American landscape painters when they put the west on screen. 
 
 Phantom comes along in the wake of all these representations of the American landscape in art – and lazily emulates them. It is a cliche: easy on the eye, easy on the brain, hackneyed and third-hand. 
 
 If this is the most valuable “fine art photograph” in history, God help fine art photography. For this hollow and overblown creation exposes the illusion that lures us all, when we’re having a good day with a good camera – the fantasy that taking a picture is the same thing as making a work of art.
– Sorry, Andreas Gursky. A private buyer has set "a new benchmark for the value of Peter Lik works" with the purchase of a single photograph—for $6.5 million. "Phantom" is a black-and-white version of the Australian photographer's "Ghost," which for a time sat in a nature photography exhibit at the Smithsonian. The Arizona Republic reports the photo shows a shaft of light penetrating an underground cavern in Arizona's Antelope Canyon. "Phantom" sold alongside photographs "Illusion" for $2.4 million and "Eternal Moods" for $1.1 million, which, according to a press release, means Lik has now sold four of the top 20 most expensive photographs ever—a fact that seems to amaze art critics, who have never been particularly taken with Lik's work. "If this is the most valuable 'fine art photograph' in history, God help fine art photography," Jonathan Jones writes at the Guardian, arguing the photo "typifies everything that goes wrong when photographers think they are artists." A lawyer for the buyer says his client has chosen to remain anonymous, but "someone has been very foolish with their money," Jones says. Given such criticism, it's perhaps surprising that the Washington Post reports Lik isn't one to be modest. His website describes "Phantom" as a "masterwork" and Lik himself as "a true leader in the world of fine art." Still, Lik's unusual salesmanship—he's been featured on a Jumbotron ad in Times Square, for example—has made him a hit with the public, the Post reports.