How much does it cost to work by emerging artists? Art Consultant says max $15,000
Recently, the price of works about young people and emerging artists is exaggerated, but few journalists (even trade members) are willing to put numbers into numbers. Artnet News “Now, $30,000 makes you an emerging artist on your resume. The art market has lost its grasp of price settings and dealers have to recalibrate,” editor-in-chief Naomi Rea wrote in a column before Art Beel in June.
But how much should Collectors pay?
Long-term consultant and Baer Faxt Founder Josh Baer just provided the answer. In his latest version No reserves Newsletter, Baer advised what he called “super appearance” artists and wrote that collectors should pay for large works at most in such artists’ first solo performance at the “famous gallery” for $15,000, while a small portion of $5,000. (What is the super-appearing artist? Bell’s role model is a person who just graduated: “For example, an MFA graduate at Yale University,” he wrote. Regarding the qualifications of size, Bell told me that he said to the text that he meant, he meant 60 x 40 x 40 x 40 x 40 x 40 x 20 x 16.)
“A new collector requires about $25,000 in pre-tax income to buy about $15,000 in work, which is the cost of a week in the Bahamas,” Bell detailed in his newsletter. As for possible speculators, that time has passed. “Collectors bought their Jean-Michel Basquiat in the 70s/80s for $7,500 and now sell for $35 million (I’m big enough to know many of them) just won’t happen.”
La Gallerist Charlie James tells Artnews He believes that Bell has both scale and pricing. “I think these thresholds are useful,” James said. “I think the $15,000 for a big job might actually be a little high.”
A seasoned emerging artist and collector of super-appearing artists offers a different perspective. “It’s an interesting idea, but pricing in the art market isn’t really codified. So many factors,” he said.
