OGP | Collectors' Recommendations
Dec 12, 2023
We hope that this ranking serves as a valuable reference for your selection of coveted artworks, assisting you in choosing pieces that align with your personal taste and investment goals. The works of these 50 artists are considered promising choices for art investment, with the potential for favorable returns. By focusing on the quantity and total value of auctioned lots, we can better evaluate the market demand for artists, taking into account average prices and confidence metrics in the auction market, offering investors a comprehensive perspective for their investment decisions.
Sotheby's and ArtTactic have recently released a report on the art market, providing a detailed overview of 50 artists who exhibited outstanding performance in the auction market from 2018 to 2022. The selection of these artists is based on their auction sales exceeding $1 million over the five-year period, with additional criteria requiring an average of at least five artworks sold per year and a minimum of 25 lots auctioned throughout the entire period.
The newly introduced "Power Rank" classification, assessing artists' market performance over the past 12 months, offers a comprehensive view of the art market trends. Drawing on public auction data from Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips, this ranking considers five factors: total value of auctioned lots, number of auctioned lots, average price of auctioned lots, performance of auctioned lots in relation to pre-sale low estimates, and the percentage change in sales value and lots sold for auctioned lots.
Diverging from a sole focus on total sales, this holistic approach provides a nuanced picture of artists' market performance. By examining both the quantity and total value of artworks sold, we can assess the demand for artists. The report also calculates the average price of artists' works and measures market confidence by analyzing how auctioned lots perform against their pre-sale low estimates. Finally, the momentum indicator allows us to understand the direction of the artists' market by studying changes in both sales value and lots sold during a specific period.
This novel ranking method enables the identification of artists who may not have topped the list in terms of total sales but exhibit strong performance in other aspects. Artists ranking high in the Power Rank generally excel across various market metrics, providing a detailed insight into the artist market.