Artnet Auctions Specialists on Photography, Hockney, and Ultra-Contemporary Market

Artnet Auctions is running two sales: 'Trailblazers in Photography' through June 30 and 'Contemporary Art' from June 30 to July 14, featuring artists like Yu Nishimura and George Condo. Specialist Carys Lake Edwards highlights photographers who expanded the medium's boundaries, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, who documented industrial structures as 'anonymous sculptures' and influenced the Düsseldorf School; Cindy Sherman, whose 'Untitled Film Stills' constructed fictional identities; and William Eggleston, whose 1976 MoMA exhibition established color photography as fine art despite initial criticism. Prints specialist Conner Williams reflects on David Hockney's legacy after his passing, noting his embrace of new technologies like iPad drawing, and his innovative printmaking across seven decades, including Xerox prints and the 'Moving Focus' series. Johannes Vogt, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, analyzes the ultra-contemporary market's downturn after a decade-long expansion, arguing that the bubble consisted of multiple speculative waves (Zombie Formalism, Black figuration, flippable young painting). He predicts a selective recovery for artists with genuine collector interest, not those built on resale alone, and expects another boom with unknown parameters.