THE contemporary

The contemporary art market
same ‘trophy’ signatures that inspire both generosity
and ferocious competition in collectors.
Among the most remarkable examples in the
past 12 months, Peter Doig’s new record for Swamped,
which fetched $25.9 million in 2015 after
$455,000 in 2002, and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s
Orange Sports Figure which fetched $8.8 million on
1 July 2015 at Sotheby’s after $66,000 at the beginning
of the 1990s 1 .
Moreover, 18% of global auction turnover from
Contemporary art was generated by three artists!
The leading triumvirate has remained unchanged
for three consecutive years: Jean-Michel Basquiat,
Christopher Wool and Jeff Koons (in descending
order). In fact the insolent health of the New York
market is largely underpinned by the turnover
generated by these three artists who account for
roughly half the total US turnover from Contemporary
art. In the 12-month period under study,
the triumvirate generated $320.5 million 2 , i.e. nearly
ten times the total amount invested in Contemporary
art in France over the same period
($35.6 million).
The only difference this year is the remarkable ascension
of Christopher Wool, whose turnover doubled
compared with the previous 12-month period,
overtaking Jeff Koons by $37 million and posting a
1) Sold for $66,000 including fees at Sotheby’s New York on 7
May 1992.
2) $369 million including fees.
new auction record just under $30 million 3 . Christopher
Wool is also the top-ranked living artist in
the Contemporary art turnover ranking. However,
Gerhard Richter (born in 1932, and therefore not
“Contemporary”) is still the strongest living artist
in the world in terms of auction turnover 4 .
Top 10 Contemporary Artists by Auction Revenue
July 2014 – June 2015
Rank
Artist
Auction Revenue
1 BASQUIAT Jean-Michel (1960-1988) $125,821,223
2 WOOL Christopher (1955) $112,993,962
3 KOONS Jeff (1955) $81,875,747
4 DOIG Peter (1959) $66,291,922
5 KIPPENBERGER Martin (1953-1997) $65,203,894
6 ZENG Fanzhi (1964) $35,264,485
7 PRINCE Richard (1949) $32,890,935
8 ZHU Xinjian (1953-2014) $24,957,628
9 HARING Keith (1958-1990) $24,561,428
10 HIRST Damien (1965) $22,752,223
© ARTPRICE.COM
During our reference period, 16 works of Contemporary
art changed hands for sums above $10 milli-
3) With Untitled (Riot), which fetched $29.93 million in May
2015, Wool’s auction record has multiplied by 24 over the
past decade.
4) Only artists born after 1945 are in our Contemporary art
classification. Gerhard Richter, born in 1932, generated
$276 million in auction turnover over our reference period
for this report (2014/2015).
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