The Ultra-Contemporary Women Artist at the Forefront of the Art Market
In 2019, we were blessed with a name for the newest sector of the art market: ultra-contemporary. Coined by Artnet News editors in their spring 2019 Intelligence Report, the term refers to artists born any time between 1975 and the present, and was created in response to the growing number of young artists that are gaining serious secondary-market traction.
Since then, works by ultra-contemporary artists have become somewhat ubiquitous at auction houses. Works from the sector regularly take up top sale slots each auction season—16 of the first 20 lots in Artsy’s latest post-war and contemporary auction were works by ultra-contemporary artists—as well as merit entire sales in their own right.
What’s driving this sector? The fervor for new, young artists at galleries has meant a limited supply of work on the primary market and long collector waitlists that are difficult to navigate. In short, this makes auctions the most accessible option for those collectors that have the means. And in turn, we’ve seen meteoric prices achieved at auction for ultra-contemporary artists’ works.
What does this have to do with women artists? Excitingly, in this sector, women artists’ works are often leading the pack. Indeed, our data shows that the younger the artists, the greater the gender parity of market share. Read More..
