“Experts especially note the incredible volume of transactions” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich talks about what deals were concluded in the 2022-2023 season.

And again we return to the seasonal results of the contemporary art market. Experts highlight the incredible volume of transactions, which is even higher than during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic a year earlier.

Let me remind you that in the 2022/2023 season, an absolutely record number of works of art entered the global contemporary art market – more than 123 thousand. Just so you understand: this is twice as high as the volume of transactions observed ten years ago, and 100 times higher than the volume that was in the early 2000s.

Interestingly, sales of works of art in the sub-$5 thousand segment, so to speak, “$5 thousand minus”, have increased significantly. In fact, it is the busiest on the market: almost 99 thousand Sovriska works were sold, that is, three times more than ten years ago. Experts note that this historical record for the sale of works of contemporary art in the “$5 thousand minus” category is the best indicator of the constant expansion of the art market.

Compared to the tens of thousands of so-called affordable lots, deals in millions of dollars worth of blue-chip works are essentially a micro-market. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, seven-figure auction results reached an all-time high of 372 lots; this was in 2021-2022. This year, the pace is less frantic but still lively: 290 works of contemporary art sold above the $1 million threshold, including 11 lots above $10 million.

And, by the way, more than 19 thousand lots at world auctions went in the range from $500 to $1 thousand. And another 47 thousand went below $500.