Vanessa Graell

Updated Thursday, February 1, 2024-00:05

  • Javier Calleja The Spaniard who is causing a sensation in Asia

The rules of ultra-contemporary art have changed. Although New York continues to dictate fashion - reinforced by London and with hardly any trace of old Europe, with Paris and Berlin in secondary positions -, the new stronghold of modern art is Hong Kong, the gateway to the lucrative Asian market, with collectors willing to pay large sums for works by young artists, those born after the 80s.

In Hong Kong, the stars of tomorrow rise and creators under 40 years old earn their first millions, with works that multiply the prices of New York or London. In the ranking of upcoming artists, dominated indisputably by the late Matthew Wong, a notable presence of women is surprising:

Jadé FADOJUTIMI (1993)

She was the youngest artist to enter the Tate's permanent collection and has already participated in the Venice Biennale. She has Nigerian roots, she lives and works in London, where she is represented by the all-powerful Gagosian, the gallery of Damien Hirst or Takashi Murakami. Her large-format paintings are an explosion of color and a certain tropicalism that delight collectors: in 2021, at only 28 years old, she was already selling works for more than a million dollars.

Loie HOLLOWELL (1983)

A worthy heir to Georgia O'Keeffe, she has consolidated her own geometric style based on a carnal abstraction of the woman's body (and her sex). A Californian based in New York, Hollowell mixes spirituality and a suggestive sexuality in her paintings. Five years ago, one of her paintings sold for $137,500 in New York, while another in Hong Kong fetched $963,000. Now they already exceed one million.

Avery SINGER (1987)

His parents, a couple of artists from New York, named him in honor of the painter Milton Avery, the 'American Matisse'. Little Avery grew up in a bohemian and creative environment, trying all the techniques to opt for painting. Far from the classical tradition, she uses computer programs to generate digital and 3D spaces and volumes that she then applies to her works. Shortly after turning 30 and after she was signed by the Hauser & Wirth gallery, her works began to sell for very high sums, 4 or 5 million dollars. She is the artist of the moment on the New York scene.

Dmitri CHERNIAK (1988)

An engineer by training, Cherniak has become the digital artist par excellence, with generative art projects and NFT collections that have reached 6 million. "Automation is my artistic field," claims the Canadian. “I create hand-coded products.”