The Urban Art scene last week mirrored that of Contemporary Art in demonstrating stronger than expected results at auction and providing a very public confidence boost to the art market.
Following a two year break, Bonhams re-launched their Urban Art auction this January to a packed saleroom. With a selling rate at 91% by value, the auction saw some world record prices achieved, as well as significant results for artists whose work had not previously appeared at auction.
In what has been a difficult time all round for the contemporary markets over the last two years, this very welcome sale, off the back of encouraging sales figures in general for the London scene toward the end of 2010, saw an enormous turn-out and competitive bidding (both on the phone and in the room).
As ever the urban sales are dominated by Banksy and the highlights of his work all sold very well. An original art work produced for the Greenpeace Save or Delete campaign (above) sold for £78,000, whilst others including ‘Portrait of an Artist’ and ‘Everytime I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else’ sold for £60,000 and £42,000 respectively – all above estimate.
His prints also saw a substantial surge in price with ‘Girl with Balloon’ fetching £12,600 and ‘Rude Copper’ selling for £9,600.Other successes of the sale, and arguably better than that of Banksy, were from the likes of Futura, JR (above left), Shepard Fairey (top) and Ben Eine (below).
Ultimately it was the return of impressive results in the print market that made for good reading with the works ‘What Have I Become?’ by D*Face and ‘Death of Caravaggio’ by Blek le Rat performing very well selling well above estimate at £900 and £720 respectively.
It would certainly seem that investment in art is still an extremely strong option for the public, be it contemporary or urban, as the popularity and demand for such work remains very high.
If you are interested in Urban/Contemporary Art and would like further information of works available or to enquire about other works we have in the gallery please call +44 (0)20 7240 7909 or email soho@artrepublic.com
