Broken Records

Artnet Compiles a List of Artists Making New Highs in 2008

Artnet just did a little database experiment, calling up all of the artists with new auction records in the first six months of 2008. The list contains 1,000 artists!–and we reprint a selection of those below. That number either gives you hope and optimism about the future of the market; or, it gives you the sense that there is nowhere to go from there but down. But the number of artists isn’t really the interesting thing here, it’s the breadth of artists and types of art that gives credence to the claims that the art market is growing on the back of the global growth in wealth:

Overall, the sprawling list of almost 1,000 new records dramatically reflects the triumphant globalization of the art market. The fall of communism was the best thing that ever happened to the art business, opening up huge new markets of millionaire art collectors. The ranking is filled with “new” names from Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia; sales devoted to Scottish art, Irish art, Scandinavian art and Greek art all had individual works being bought for more than $1 million. The booms in 19th-century American and Victorian art continue, as does the rapid growth of auctions held in Asia and the Mideast. The rise in value also delves into the second and third tiers of familiar art movements, and extends backwards in time as well, including early modernists and 19th-century pioneers.

While you’re digesting that interesting observation, here’s a partial list of record-breakers. There’s an additional list contained on a pdf on Artnet’s site.

Jeff Wall ($993,000), Xu Bing ($977,024), Malcolm Morley ($975,141), Jenny Holzer ($881,000), Franz West ($721,202), Sherrie Levine ($713,000), Mr ($645,776), Larry Bell ($623,400), Marc Quinn ($605,000), Wilhelm Sasnal ($457,676), Peter Halley ($457,000), Peter Blake ($418,000), Banks Violette ($409,762), Robert Longo ($406,722), Wangechi Mutu ($406,722), Joseph Kosuth ($337,000), Mark Bradford ($325,000), Gabriel Orozco ($308,000), Sterling Ruby ($260,000), AES+F ($238,614), Tracey Emin ($220,000), Ana Mendieta ($202,970), Daniel Spoerri ($199,491), Jack Goldstein ($187,000), Hernan Bas ($175,000), Michael Craig-Martin ($169,222), Mark Kostabi ($117,005), Sylvie Fleury ($115,050); Peter Voulkos ($108,000).