Colin Gleadell did a little math on last week’s Contemporary art sales and discovered that Gerhard Richter’s work accounted for nearly 20% of the trading volume. That kind of presence in the Contemporary market has only previously been seen by, well, you know who:
there were 25, mostly colourful abstract paintings of the kind that had sold so well in New York in November, and all but two sold for £33.8 million, easily surpassing the minimum £20 million expected; that’s 18.4 percent of the series spent on just one artist. I can’t remember any other contemporary artist, apart from Andy Warhol, dominating to such an extent.
Contemporary Sales: Some Things Still to Smile About (Telegraph)