Q.
Which artists have been engaging people over the last year?

.

A.

We can find some answers in Artnet’s 2023 Intelligence Report. As they combed through searches in their Price Database, Artnet found…

Top 10 Most Searched Artists. By Mid-Year 2023
i.    Pablo Picasso
ii.   Andy Warhol
iii.  Yayoi Kusama
iv.   Marc Chagall
v.    David Hockney
vi.   Gerhard Richter
vii.  Joan Miró
viii. Alexander Calder
ix.   Henri Matisse
x.    Damien Hirst

.

Artnet’s Intelligence Report also covers the unimaginable world of serious art collector prices. In Contemporary (versus ‘Ultra Contemporary’) art sales, artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Yoshitomo Nara dominated in 2023.

Top 5 Contemporary Art Sales in USD.2023. Artnet
i.   Jean-Michel Basquiat. El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile). 1983. $67,110,000
ii.  Jean-Michel Basquiat. Now’s the Time. 1985. $28,634,000
iii. Yoshitomo Nara. In the Milky Lake. 2012. $12,809,931
iv. Jean-Michel Basquiat. Moon View. 1984. $10,790,400
v. Yoshitomo Nara. Lookin’ for a Treasure. 1995. $10,681,665

.

Basquiat painted the spectacular #1 El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) – also referred to as ‘History of the Black People’ – when he was 22 years old. Auction house Christie’s described the triptych as incorporating ‘an intoxicating array of signs and iconography to use art to address issues of the African diaspora within the larger context of world history.’

According to reports, Italian fashion designer Valentino bought El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)  in 2004 for $5.2 million USD. Keen-eyed viewers might recognize this particular Basquiat from the hallways of Axe Capital – obviously a replica! – in Showtime’s hit series ‘Billions.

.

And here’s a little more on the #3 painting ‘In the Milky Lake’ from  artist Yoshitomo Nara, born 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan.

.

.

www.justcurious.ca

Header Art: Jean-Michel Basquiat. El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile). 1983