Artists to Watch, Six Months Later
In November 2020, Arthena reported on six artists and their emerging markets. Now, six months later, we are revisiting these artists, taking a look at their new achievements, breakthroughs, and market performances.
Matthew Wong
Matthew Wong, the self taught Canadian painter who passed away at the age of 35 in October 2019, saw an incredible increase in demand for his work last year.
In May 2020, his Untitled (2018) sold at Sotheby’s New York for a mere $62,500. In July 2020, Warmth (2017) sold at Phillips Hong Kong for $2,625,000 and Homecoming (2017) sold at Christie’s Hong Kong for $3,000,000. Shangri-La (2017) sold at Christie’s New York Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale for $4,470,000 in October 2020, setting a then record for his work at auction.
Since the fall report, the established demand for Wong’s works have manifested in his continued presence at auctions. Wong’s auction record for Shangri-La was swiftly broken after the sale of his River at Dusk (2018). The lot sold for $4,860,000 with the buyer’s premium at Phillips in December 2020. Though this new record has since remained unbroken, the sell-through rate for Wong’s works have continued to hover well above their estimates. Most recently, his The Beginning (2017) sold with the buyer’s premium for $3.45 Million.
Wong has three works upcoming in the next week, which are split between Sotheby’s New York and Christie’s New York. The demand for the now deceased artist’s works are not showing signs of slowing, even with the limited supply of works circulating.
Portia Zvavahera
Portia Zvavahera’s Complete (2014) sold at Bonhams for £75,250 with the buyer’s premium on March 17. This was her first work to come to auction since her Arising from the Unknown (2019), which set a record for the artist at auction. It sold for £163,800 at Phillips in October 2020, four times its low estimate, following her first solo exhibition.
Zvavahera has yet to make headlines this year, and her works, which draw upon her deeply held sense of spirituality and accompanying rituals of belief to embody the predominantly female figures within them, have continued to be a rare sight on the secondary market.
Titus Kaphar
This week, multi-disciplinary American artist Titus Kaphar signed with United Talent Agency. As reported in fall 2020, increasing demand for Kaphar’s work had resulted in three record auction sales that season. His rise paralleled the increased focus on the Black Lives Matter movement and push to address racial injustices within the United States. He is lauded for his ability to thoughtfully reappropriate classical figures and events in American history in ways that make the viewer recognize and question the racial injustices of the past and the present.
His fall auction record for Page 4 of Jefferson’s “Farm Book” (2018), which sold at Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated for $854,900, remains unbroken. With his new agency signing, Kaphar is once again pushing boundaries as he looks to integrate his work across TV, film, publishing, and podcast mediums. “His forthcoming film projects, currently in post-production, translate his paintings to the screen in both feature and short film formats. Kaphar’s filmed works are an extension of his studio practice, adapting existing bodies of painting and sculpture to the screen to provide more democratic access for audiences to experience his canon.”
Emily Mae Smith
A work of Emily Mae Smith’s has not appeared at auction since December 2020, when her Centurion XX from 2015 sold for $107,000 with the buyer’s premium, over three times it’s high estimate of $30,000 at Phillips 20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale. Smith had five works being presented at the Petzel Gallery’s Works on Paper, by whom she has been represented since February 2021. The show came to a close on April 24, with all of her showings selling early, as inventory of her available works remain low and sought after.
Genieve Figgis
Genieve Figgis has a 100% sell through rate for works that have appeared at auction since the start of 2020. An untitled work of hers is upcoming at Christie’s New York next week, with a low estimate of $30,000.
Works by Genieve Figgis, the Irish abstract painter, performed well at Hong Kong contemporary sales last year, as Arthena reported in our Fall 2020 Auction Highlights. Since we last reported on Figgis, her works have been consistently appearing, and hammering, at auction. Since the start of 2021, seven of her works have come to and sold at auction, with another work upcoming in Christie’s May 14 Post War & Contemporary Art Day Sale. Of the seven works presented this year so far, five have sold above their high estimate. Both Friends (1972) and Lady with a Dog (1972) respectively hammered for around three times their high estimates.
Her work has been performing in houses across continents, increasing from her pointed success in Hong Kong this past season. All of her hammers in 2021 so far have been at Phillips, Christies, and Bonhams in London and New York, with seemingly many more to come as the season progresses.
Amoako Boafo
In the fall of 2020, the Ghana-born, contemporary figurative artist Amoako Boafo’s artwork was causing quite a stir on the secondary market. At that time, thirty works by Boafo had come to auction in 2020 alone with an average sale price of about $217,000, as reported in our Fall Auction Highlight. Since then, Boafo has had seven works presented at auction with two more upcoming in the next week. All seven have sold above their high estimates, with six selling for over double their high estimates.
His works have been labeled by Artsy as consistently in demand and his recent market performance heavily supports this notion. Despite the contention surrounding his rise last year, Boafo’s rise continues as the market hastily awaits each of his works at auction.
