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Roster Expansion

In my article from earlier this month, Mega Galleries: Cultural Production Beyond the Bottom Line, I showed how the four leading commercial galleries are making a cultural impact which rivals the top museums.  From high quality educational materials and unmatched audio-visual resources to critical journals and book series, it’s clear that Gagosian, Pace, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth are committed to fleshing out the art ecosystem and rightfully treating art as more than just any other commodity. The article also made the case that the mega galleries have proven themselves willing to put on daring exhibitions with a combination of speed and decisiveness that is incompatible with publicly funded institutions.

One other important facet of the mega galleries’ recent business decisions is an aggressive expansion of their rosters. Since the economic anxieties associated with the Covid-19 lockdowns abated, Pace and Gagosian in particular have shown a penchant for vigorously onboarding new artists. With this roster expansion comes a prime opportunity to investigate just who is joining the ranks of the mega galleries and how their secondary markets have reacted to the development. After all, the dream of adventurous art investors is to discover and collect emerging artists who go on to sign with one of the mega galleries. A closer look at the price action around mega gallery representation for emerging artists will show why.

Pace’s Gamebreaker

Maysha Mohamedi, Too Young to Go Steady, oil on canvas. Painted in 2023. Photo: Christie's

Of all the mega galleries, Pace has added the most artists to its roster over the past couple of years. A glimpse into one of Pace’s represented artists will demonstrate just how big of an impact mega gallery representation can have. In April of 2022, Pace announced the representation of American painter Maysha Mohamedi, and she had her first New York solo exhibition, Gamebreaker, the following year. The debut show featured her unique approach to Color Field painting which combines heavy use of negative space with atmospheric abstraction. Not coincidentally, on May 12, the very day of the opening, Mohamedi’s piece Too Young to Go Steady sold at Christie’s’ New York Post-War and Contemporary Day Sale for $107,100. Mohamedi had donated the work to raise money for the land conservation charity Art into Acres and the sale price was matched by a 200% additional commitment from private foundations.

The sale also served the important function of christening Mohamedi’s first auction sale. Later that year in September, Mohamedi’s painting Birdie on the Back of a Sleeping Tiger sold at the Christie's New York Post-War to Present auction for $151,200 against an estimate of $40,000 - $60,000. Few artists ever reach the six-figure mark, and even less in their first ever auction sale. The remarkable results attest to the value that Pace representation has brought to Mohamedi’s career, as well as the potency of a deliberate, well-timed entry into the secondary market.

Marina Perez Simão, Untitled, Executed in 2022, oil on canvas. Photo: Sotheby’s

One of Mohamedi’s stablemates, Brazilian painter Marina Perez Simão, had her first solo show, Onda, open at Pace London in September 2022.  Five of her works from the Onda series then came to auction in 2023, including the painting from the cover of the exhibition catalogue. The lowest sale came in at $48,260, modestly above its $30,000 high estimate, while the highest sale price achieved an unanticipated $422,000, smashing through its high estimate of $120,000. It’s safe to say that the Pace representation has been a serious upward catalyst on her market.

Black Stars at Gagosian

In light of the 2020 protests in the United States, institutions across the country made transformative efforts to address their role in the nation’s legacy of racial inequality. Gagosian acted on the historical moment by adding more Black artists to the gallery’s already impressive roster.

Rick Lowe, Black Wall Street Journey #11, Executed in 2021, acrylic and paper collage on canvas. Photo: Phillips

In September 2021, Gagosian announced the representation of Rick Lowe and that he would be featured at Art Basel 2021 and in the Social Works II exhibition, curated by Antwaun Sargent in London, before having his first solo show in 2022, titled Meditations on Social Sculpture. The exhibition contributes to the tradition of “Black social practice” which Sargent has brought into broader awareness through his curatorial and critical efforts.

Lowe was born in 1961 and had been a practicing artist throughout his adult life, but his works only came to auction in 2023, after being signed to Gagosian. Furthermore, Lowe’s three auction transactions to date all consist of paintings made in 2021 – the year of the mega gallery representation. His first auction result at Christie's’ New York Post-War to Present sale achieved a remarkable $227,200, well above the estimate range of $100,000 - $150,000. Lowe’s work has since gone on to sell at auction two more times, once for 114,300 GBP ($139,581) and then for $226,800, again in the fall of 2023. All results surpassed the high estimate with ease.

Deana Lawson, Baby Sleep 2009, printed in 2011, Pigment print. Photo: Swann Auction Galleries

The additional exposure and support that comes from Gagosian representation certainly hasn’t hurt other newly-signed stars on the roster, either. Brooklyn-based photographer Deana lawson has a signature realist style that foregrounds Black bodies in intimate situations, and her work even inspired the 2019 film Queen & Slim directed by Melina Matsoukas. Few of her works have ever made it to auction, but she appears to be comfortably settling into the zone of $20,000-$30,000 per photograph.

Stanley Whitney, Forward to Black-, dated 1996, oil on canvas. Courtesy Gary Tatintsian Gallery (New York/Dubai) and the artist

Other prominent artists signed to Gagosian like Derrick Adams and Stanley Whitney show no signs of cooling off, even as the broader contemporary art market took a breather in 2023. Adams, who joined Gagosian in March 2023, saw his 2018 work Style Variation 4 sell at Phillips New York for $215,900 that same month, well surpassing the high estimate of $70,000. It was Adams’ third-highest-ever auction result. For his part, Stanley Whitney began exhibiting with Gagosian in 2020. His auction record came one year later at Sotheby's’ New York The Now Evening Auction when Forward to Black from 1996 sold for $2,319,000 against a high estimate of $200,000. Over the past four years, twelve of his color  gridpaintings have sold above the $1 million mark.

Opportunities Abound

As these examples underscore, the art market is ripe with opportunities for astute collectors who proactively identify and support emerging artists prior to their association with mega galleries. This strategic engagement not only enhances the potential for significant investment returns but also positions such collectors at the forefront of art trends as these emerging artists gain prominence. The allure for collectors of potentially collecting the next mega gallery artist, combined with the mega galleries continued roster expansion has led to a market situation where the must-have red chip art by ultra-contemporary emerging artists has outperformed the blue chip segment of contemporary art during the market softening of the past year.

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