17 Artists Whose Works Set Records at London’s Frieze Week Auctions

Going into last week’s London auctions, widespread signs of an economic slowdown suggested that the sales might be tepid, but that was largely not the case. Multiple reports have confirmed that auctions were managed well, with lots withdrawn to shore up strong sell-through rates. And though there were few (if any) of the meteoric results we witnessed for contemporary artists in the spring and summer, a slate of fresh records were set and notable debuts made.

We share below a selection of the artists whose works surpassed past auction results. They range from undersung 20th-century masters to promising emerging artists new to the secondary market. (Prices listed below include fees.)

Beauford Delaney

James Baldwin, 1966

Sold for: £1,026,000 ($1,159,545)

Estimate: £180,000–£250,000 ($202,661–$244,775)

This rare gem came from Istanbul’s Gülriz Sururi Estate, which acquired it directly from the artist in 1966—the year it was made—and has owned it ever since. The sale was a part of Christie’s “Istanbul Calling” benefit auction. The record-setting price is no surprise, given the subject matter and Delaney’s recent ascendance. Delaney and Baldwin were friends for four decades. The relationship led to over a dozen portraits of Baldwin, many of which are now in museum collections.

As Baldwin’s timeless influence has especially impacted contemporary culture in recent years, so, too, has Delaney’s. Last year, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery mounted the acclaimed exhibition “Be Your Wonderful Self: The Portraits of Beauford Delaney,” which traveled to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and resulted in a publication released this year.

Another Delaney portrait, Gülriz Sururi (1966), was included in the same auction and sold for £189,000, towards the high end of its estimate. The artist’s vast and varied oeuvre transcended portraits—Delaney also painted poetic vistas and deft abstractions. His auction results reflect that range, with the previous record set by the dynamic cityscape Untitled (Village Street Scene) (1948), which sold for $557,000 in 2018; and the next-highest sale, an untitled, pale, blue-green abstraction, sold in 2020 for €467,800 ($530,363).

Carlo Rea

Spore Verde Chiaro, 2021

Sold for: £75,600 ($83,923)

Estimate: £30,000–£40,000 ($33,759–$45,042)

The Italian artist Carlo Rea’s minty green monochrome sold for almost double its high estimate at Phillips’s day sale on October 13th. The artist’s work was previously at the auction house in July 2020, when a red-orange monochrome, smaller than this one, sold for £25,000 ($31,480).

Rea’s highly textured, mixed-media monochromes explore materiality and the passage of time. Incorporating materials ranging from plaster and glue to burlap and asphalt, the works pay homage to Rea’s Arte Povera forebears and nod to the artist’s origins as a musician; Rea studied the violin and viola, which influence the rhythmic nature of his compositions. He shows with the Italian gallery Tornabuoni Art, where he last had a solo show in 2019.

Caroline Walker

Indoor Outdoor, 2015

Sold for: £529,200 ($598,081)

Estimate: £60,000–£80,000 ($67,519–$90,047)

Caroline Walker’s auction record was set by Night Scenes (2017) at Phillips on October 14th, and then again at Sotheby’s later that same day, when collectors vied for Indoor Outdoor (2015), which racked up 13 bids.

The two works in question have striking similarities, though they were made two years apart. Both are night scenes, bathed in a warm orange glow, that deftly toy with the boundaries between homes’ interiors and exteriors. This theme is typical of Walker’s practice, which explores the line between public and private moments. Her dazzling scenes feature anonymous women in everyday scenarios, often at work. Indoor Outdoor, which featured in Walker’s first solo show with GRIMM in 2016, is part of a series inspired by residents of opulent homes in the Palm Springs desert.

Walker’s work was also on offer at Christie’s last week; the auction house sold a canvas, Catered (2017), which delivered another strong result, selling for £239,400 ($265,750). And two of Walker’s works on paper fetched solid results in London last week, selling for £30,240 and £69,300 ($34,037 and $78,003).

Over two dozen of Walker’s canvases and works on paper have gone to auction in 2022 so far. The artist’s previous auction record was set in July, when the large canvas Bedding, Room 44 (2018) sold for £428,400 ($520,947) at Christie’s.

In 2021 and 2022, Walker mounted solo shows at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London; the Fitzrovia Chapel in London; KM21 Kunstmuseum in The Hague; Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham, England; and GRIMM in New York. This November, she will open a solo show at K11 in Shanghai.

Charline von Heyl

Untitled, 2006

Sold for: £478,800 ($541,121)

Estimate: £180,000–£250,000 ($202,448–$281,178)

Charline von Heyl is one of the most dynamic and versatile painters working today, acclaimed for her fresh approach to abstraction. This year, her work was included in “The Milk of Dreams,” the international exhibition at the Venice Biennale curated by Cecilia Alemani. The artist has been showing with Petzel Gallery since the 1990s, though her auction market has grown slowly. Her work first achieved six figures at auction in 2015.

Untitled (2006), which sold at Sotheby’s “The Now” evening auction, looms over seven feet tall and exemplifies the artist’s more gestural work. Her previous auction record was set by a very different piece in 2019, when DUMKA (2007) sold for $300,000. During May sales earlier this year, two of von Heyl’s works sold at auction, though neither with standout results.

Doron Langberg

Nir and Zach, 2018

Sold for: £378,000 ($422,483)

Estimate: £60,000–£80,000 ($67,519–$90,047)

Since earning his MFA from Yale a decade ago, Doron Langberg has earned acclaim for his lush, colorful paintings of queer community, love, and friendship. Following solo shows at 1969 Gallery and Yossi Milo Gallery in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the artist joined the roster of Victoria Miro in 2020. He enjoyed his first solo exhibition with the London gallery in 2021. Nir and Zach (2018), which sold at Phillips, features two of the artist’s friends and was included in the 2018 group show “Zig Zag Zig” at DC Moore Gallery in New York, from which the seller acquired it.

This is the third work by Langberg to appear at auction this year: His debut came in March, when the five-foot-tall painting Amy in Her Studio (2017) sold for £163,800 ($218,684), more than tripling its high estimate. And while in April, another work with the same estimate sold for less, £138,600 ($172,764), this most recent sale—though for a much larger work, at eight feet tall—suggests continued growth in the artist’s secondary market.

Julian Pace

Kanye, 2021

Sold for: £113,400 ($126,685)

Estimate: £20,000–£30,000 ($22,571–$33,858)

The auction debut for young Los Angeles–based painter Julian Pace arrived amid the artist’s steadily growing repute, which was accelerated by his first solo show with Simchowitz Gallery, “Some Paintings,” in October 2021 (which featured this work). Kanye (2021) is one of two portraits of the infamous rapper that Pace made in June 2021 while at the La Brea Studio Artists Residency—the tastemaking Los Angeles residency program run by Danny First. Pace’s works also featured at NADA Miami Beach in 2021 with The Pit. Earlier this month, his small works on paper appeared at Art on Paper Brussels with Tatjana Pieters.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan

Coping Mechanisms, 2021

Sold for: £239,400 ($267,446)

Estimate: £20,000–£30,000 ($22,571–$33,858)

Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s third appearance at auction this year (all at Phillips) pushed her secondary market comfortably into the six figures. The most recent sale before this, in late June, saw a 2020 work of a similar size—though far less vibrant and gestural than this one—sell for £44,100 ($53,747).

Yearwood-Dan’s star is certainly on the rise. Acclaim has grown for the London-based artist’s dynamic, semi-abstract paintings. They are infused with emotions, politics, and contemporary culture, foregrounded by Yearwood-Dan’s identity and experiences. Following her first solo shows in 2019, both in London, at Tiwani Contemporary and the Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, Yearwood-Dan made her New York solo debut at Marianne Boesky Gallery in 2021. That year, she also took part in the esteemed Palazzo Monti residency program in Brescia, Italy. In 2022, she opened another show with Tiwani in the spring; mounted the inaugural show for London’s Queercircle space, which included a large, site-specific mural; and featured in Marianne Boesky’s booth at Frieze London.

Raghav Babbar

Surinder, 2020

Sold for: £403,200 ($448,588)

Estimate: £15,000–£20,000 ($16,919–$22,571)

Though Raghav Babbar may be a new name for many, the impressive sale of his 2020 painting Surinder arrived in the wake of a major auction debut for the artist, who is only in his mid-twenties. In August, Babbar’s Memory is a permanent luxury (2020) sold for SG$441,000 (US$316,560) at Sotheby’s in Singapore, against an estimate of SG$26,000–$40,000 (US$18,297–$28,149).

Born in India, raised in Singapore, and based in London, Babbar is an MFA grad of London’s Royal College of Art. Last year, he mounted his first solo show, “A Visual Journey,” with Waterhouse & Dodd. In 2019, he was included in a group exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. For the artist, figuration is a vehicle for channeling emotion onto canvas.

Robert Nava

Before Minotaur, 2019

Sold for: £639,600 ($714,529)

Estimate: £180,000–£250,000 ($203,304–$282,367)

Robert Nava’s childlike paintings of mythical beasts have raised eyebrows for the past few years, though the artist and his collectors remain undeterred. While a wave of artists working in a similar style gave rise to what appeared to be a faux-naïf fad, dozens of Nava’s works have gone to auction, with results ebbing and flowing comfortably within the low to mid-six figures. This year alone garnered more than half of Nava’s top auction results, with the previous record set in March, when Frozen Bark (2020) sold for £478,800.

Though much of Nava’s secondary-market action has happened since he joined Pace Gallery’s roster (announced in November 2020), the artist made a bold auction debut before then, in July 2020, when The Tunnel (2019) sold for $162,500. So the artist’s success predates his affiliation with the mega gallery, due in part to his shows with various tastemaking galleries such as Night Gallery, Sorry We’re Closed, and V1 Gallery.

Sarah Ball

Untitled (AC16), 2017

Sold for: £94,500 ($104,901)

Estimate: £60,000–£80,000 ($67,768–$90,357)

Sarah’s Ball’s magnetic portraits, which feature neutral monochrome backdrops and subjects with clear gazes and bold sartorial choices, have enticed primary-market collectors for years. The artist joined the roster of Stephen Friedman Gallery in November 2020. She was the focus of the gallery’s booth at Frieze New York the following spring, and mounted a solo show at its London space in early 2022. Prior to that, she mounted several exhibitions at museums and galleries, mostly in the U.K., including two solo shows each at Anima-Mundi in St. Ives, England, and Conduit Gallery in Dallas.

Now, the artist’s works are gaining traction at auction. Two of her pieces sold in London last week, including Untitled (AC16) (2017), which comfortably passed its high estimate at Christie’s. The other work, which sold at Phillips, may actually be a more compelling barometer for the artist’s market: a very small, untitled portrait of a man from 2016, which measures just over seven by five inches and sold for £37,800 ($41,961).

Austyn Weiner

Working Through Not Knowing A Damn Thing About Any Thing, 2020

Sold for: £226,800 ($254,970)

Estimate: £30,000–40,000 ($33,726–44,968)

As its date and title suggest, Austyn Weiner’s large diptych Working Through Not Knowing A Damn Thing About Any Thing (2020) was created during the pandemic. That was a productive moment for the Miami-born, Los Angeles–based artist, who hosted a daily video series on Instagram and held a show of her paintings in her garage—which quickly attracted the L.A. art scene and promptly sold out. The artist has also garnered attention for her friendship with Gigi Hadid, whose eclectic home features in Weiner’s work.

In 2020, Weiner mounted a solo show at Carl Kostyál in London. Prior to 2020, Weiner had solo shows at The Journal Gallery in New York and Bill Brady Gallery in Miami; and in 2021, she had shows with König Galerie and Harper’s.

Weiner also entered the auction market in 2020, with her work selling for $90,000, which was considered a bold debut at the time. More recently, at the amfAR Gala Cannes benefit auction this past spring, another large painting—also a diptych—sold for €225,000 ($241,308). Working Through Not Knowing A Damn Thing About Any Thing, which originally appeared in a group show at Joel Mesler’s Rental Gallery in East Hampton, New York, only just beat that record at Phillips.

Julien Nguyen

Kye, Semper Solus, 2017

Sold for: £453,600 ($512,641)

Estimate: £40,000–£60,000 ($45,330–$67,995)

With the prized opening slot at Sotheby’s “The Now” evening auction, this ethereal figurative painting by rising Los Angeles–based artist Julien Nguyen did not disappoint. Met with a bidding war that featured 14 bids total, the striking work has made the artist’s secondary market one to watch. This sale arrived after Nguyen’s 2016 graphite-on-panel piece Homework sold at Sotheby’s in late September for $94,500, against its $30,000–$40,000 estimate.

Kye, Semper Solus was featured in the artist’s 2018 solo show at Modern Art in London and his 2019 exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nguyen has also mounted solo shows in New York in 2019 at the Swiss Institute, and in 2021 at Matthew Marks Gallery, which represents the artist.

Tracey Emin

Like a Cloud of Blood, 2022

Sold for: £2,322,000 ($2,577,571)

Estimate: £500,000–£700,000 ($566,625–$793,275)

Tracey Emin’s Like a Cloud of Blood (2022) set a new record for the artist’s paintings at auction during Christie’s “20th/21st Century: London” evening sale. Emin herself sold the work to raise funds for TKE Studios, a new artist residency program she’s opening in January 2023 in her hometown of Margate, England. The project arose after Emin survived life-saving surgery for bladder cancer, then felt inspired to move back to Margate, which has always been central to her work. Now, she’ll make the place a launchpad for early-career artists.

Like a Cloud of Blood is both exceptional in its connection to Emin’s new personal mission and in its own right—the deeply emotive canvas features drips, quick brushstrokes, and a central, crumpled figure bathed in a palette of pinks, reds, black, and white.

The record sits behind that of Emin’s most iconic work, My Bed (1998), which sold in 2014 for £2,546,500 ($4,351,969). This past May, You are there now (2017), a canvas of a similar width and palette to Like a Cloud of Blood, sold for $819,000 at Sotheby’s, more than doubling its high estimate of $400,000.

Louise Giovanelli

Peeping Tom, 2019

Sold for: £81,900 ($92,560)

Estimate: £30,000–£40,000 ($33,858–$45,330)

Given the artist’s recent primary-market success, it was unsurprising that Louise Giovanelli’s Peeping Tom (2019) was another standout work from Sotheby’s “The Now” evening auction. The rising artist, who was featured in The Artsy Vanguard 2021, makes lush, theatrical, and smartly cropped renderings of film clips, videos, and iPhone snapshots. In February, White Cube announced it would represent the artist, jointly with GRIMM. The latter has held three solo shows of her work since 2020 and will open another next year. This past summer, White Cube held its first solo show with Giovanelli.

A quintessential work from Giovanelli’s early career (it was included in her 2019–2020 solo show at Frutta Gallery in Rome), Peeping Tom is part of a series inspired by the 1960 horror-thriller film of the same name. Throughout, Giovanelli painted various compositions filled with the face of actress Anna Massey, as her character was being attacked by a stalker.

This new record only just passed Giovanelli’s previous record, set a few weeks ago in late September: Stele (2020) sold for $81,900 at Phillips in New York. One of Giovanelli’s works also sold at Christie’s in London last week. That work, Seal (2020), is less typical of the style she’s known for, and sold for much less: £26,460 ($29,904).

Frank Auerbach

Head of J.Y.M. Painting, 1984

Sold for: £5,648,800 ($6,384,051)

Estimate: £3,000,000–£4,000,000 ($3,399,750–$4,533,000)

A highlight of Sotheby’s contemporary evening auction on October 14th, this dark, gestural portrait features one of Frank Auerbach’s most recognized sitters, Juliet Yardley Mills. The piece is reproduced on the cover of Auerbach’s 1992 monograph authored by Robert Hughes, and boasts an illustrious exhibition history: It was featured in the artist’s 1989 show the Rijksmuseum; his 2001 show at the Royal Academy of Arts; and more recently, at Timothy Taylor in New York in 2018. The British artist’s previous auction record was also set this year: Another portrait, Head of Gerda Boehm (1965), sold for £4,149,000 ($5,042,697) in June, also at Sotheby’s.

Kiki Kogelnik

Siempre Por Tio, 1964

Sold for: £207,900 ($234,960)

Estimate: £70,000–£100,000 ($79,268–$113,240)

The late Austrian artist Kiki Kogelnik took her own approach to Pop art, using bold color and sharp wit to address technology and space travel, rather than commodities. Her work has received overdue recognition in the past several years, thanks in large part to galleries like Simone Subal, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, and König Galerie, among others. Kogelnik recently enjoyed a major spotlight within Cecilia Alemani’s international exhibition at the 2022 Venice Biennale, “The Milk of Dreams.” And as this sale of Siempre Por Tio at Sotheby’s suggests, the artist’s auction market may well catch up.

Siempre Por Tio was included in the 2012 exhibition at Kunstverein Hamburg “Kiki Kogelnik: I have seen the future!” as well as in a 2016 solo show at König Galerie. Kogelnik’s previous auction record was set in 2019, when the painting Superserpent (1935–97) sold for €162,500 ($179,349).

Stefan Gierowski

CLXVII, 1965

Sold for: £239,400 ($270,560)

Estimate: £18,000–£25,000 ($20,383–$28,310)