Three Artists We Sourced Whose Pricing Has Increased Dramatically
When sourcing art for clients, the predicted future value is never a top credential to consider. That said, ensuring our clients buy wisely is, and part of that job is identifying quality works at good prices. These “quality works” are often more likely to hold or appreciate in value, and we’re proud to have helped clients secure a number of these works over time. All that said, there are a few artists we’ve sourced for clients whose markets have REALLY strengthened in ways that have surprised us all. Here are three:
Clare Rojas.
We first discovered Roja’s work at a fair in 2015 through the Gallery Paule Anglim, now Anglim/Trimble, based in San Francisco. Rojas has two major bodies of work: one that is completely abstract with geometric bands of color, and the other that is figurative, often celebrating themes related to female protagonists. Pricing for both styles has always been aligned, but a 48x64” in 2015 was selling for $22,000. Now, that same size is retailing at around $70,000. It’s a big jump, which can prompt questions, but due to her museum acquisitions, industry accolades and well received solo shows, the pricing is absolutely justified. Her first solo show with Andrew Kreps in New York is actually on coming up, opening on March 31.
Amanda Means.
Amanda Means is a photographer we’ve also watched for years. She’s best known for using experimental Polaroid cameras back in the heyday of Polaroid, to explore how man made and natural elements interact. Her photographs of light bulbs were particularly compelling because they are large - around 35” tall, and the chemicals of the instant camera development process frames the subject. Means did these in a number of different colors, many of which have a distinctive historical (1980s) feel. These works are unique (not editioned) and were selling for ~$7,000 in 2017. The materials used to create them are essentially extinct now and again, museum acquisitions, solo shows, and some successful and stable auction buys have bumped pricing up to ~$25,000 per piece.
A Break in the Clouds, courtesy of Pippy Houldsworth Gallery
Angela Heisch.
Angela Heisch came onto our radar relatively recently with a fantastic solo show at Davidson Gallery in 2019. She relatively young and emerging, and in recent years, her work has been shown in the right places, bought by taste making collectors, and earning clout within the industry. We sold her medium sized pieces for under $10,000 in 2019, and at Philips’ recent London sale, a medium sized piece sold for 77,000GBP (with an estimate of 20,000-30,000GBP). One auction sale definitely should not disrupt an artist’s entire pricing structure, and in fact gallerists work hard to control these types of outlier prices, but it does show that demand for the work is high. Pricing for her upcoming show at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is certainly higher than where it was, but most importantly, the pieces aren’t even available - they are all reserved for potential museum acquisitions, so we’ll be keeping a close watch on how these acquisitions and any private sales pan out.
Finally, increasing pricing is definitely not always a good thing for an artist and it can raise questions about the sustainability of that artist’s market, the gallery representing the artist and more. For the artists above, the pricing makes sense, but we continue to make price diligence a key element to any client project.