Five Artists That Are On Our Radar Right Now

Bridget Riley

The British artist Bridget Riley is synonymous with the Op Art movement, which explores how abstract pattern, colour and form can stimulate the eye. Riley’s genius lies in her ability to transform deceptively simple shapes and forms into groundbreaking studies in geometry that feel like they are literally vibrating with power. Celebrated for her dizzying optical illusions and the way her compositions gradually reveal a vital, dynamic interplay of shape and colour, Riley has developed one of the most recognisable styles in the art world.

Why is Bridget Riley in our radar?

With a studio in London’s East End, Riley continues to create art today, although the supply of works has significantly decreased. Aged 91, there will come a point where the market stops being fed new artworks, which will inevitably increase demand for those in circulation. Add to this the meteoric rise of female artists in recent years and Riley’s Op Art is expected to become a household name, just like her peers Yayoi Kusama and Tracey Emin. With an extensive exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago in September 2022, the curatorial momentum continues for Riley with a retrospective of her drawings currently taking place at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

BRIDGET RILEY, SIDEWAYS, 2010

 
David Hockney

This pioneer of the 1960s British art movement needs little introduction. One of the most celebrated and prolific artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Hockney’s artworks have featured in more than 1,500 exhibitions, with his auction market the third largest among the founders of Pop Art. Just last week, 12 Hockney works were sold at a Phillips auction in London, with 11 lots exceeding their high estimate by an average of 30%.

 
Why is David Hockney on our radar?

There has been a surge in the auction market for Hockney’s prints in the last 12 months, with the artist likely to keep setting new sales records every year if the momentum continues. His newest body of work, “painted” on an iPad, was prominently featured in a blockbuster exhibition at London’s Royal Academy in 2021, which continued its global journey in 2022 at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels and the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul. With his classic landscapes and domestic scenes, reimagined through technology, he has succeeded in inspiring multiple generations and appealing to a new audience of young collectors.

 
Invader

An anonymous French street artist best known for his pixelated mosaics, in just two decades Invader has “invaded” the world on an international scale. With over 4,000 Space Invaders murals across 170 cities and six continents, the rapid evolution of his “invasion waves” is reflected in the speed of growth in the artist’s marketplace. The artist’s mosaics always elicit enthusiastic bidding, with consistent six-figure results at auction. In the past five years, the average price of an Invader artworks sold at auction has increased by close to 200%.

INVADER, OH... ALRIGHT, 2011

 Why is Invader on our radar?

In the first days of 2023, Invader released a new book entitled 4000 The Complete Guide to the Space Invaders, 1998-2021. Looking back on more than 20 years of the artist’s globe-spanning Space Invaders project, the book marks a huge milestone for the artist. In the early days of February, Invader announced the publication of a second book dedicated to his Rubikcubist series. Both editorials will act as comprehensive catalogue raisonnés, providing evidence and analysis for Invader’s oeuvre and helping to create certainty in the marketplace.

INVADER, SUNSET, 2018

 
Fika Leon

With the recent insatiable appetite for Indonesian talent among collectors, Fika Leon’s star is rising. Self-taught and self-trained, Leon’s abstract paintings of human faces, still life and landscape settings on raw canvas convey the beauty of the universe from a very individual perspective. In 2018, Fika was invited to exhibit at a group exhibition organised by IndoArtNow in Jakarta, Indonesia. A flurry of exhibitions followed, with 2022 his highest-profile year to date, with sold-out shows in Brussels (April), Taiwan (Aug/Sept) and Los Angeles (Oct).

 
Why is Fika Leon on our radar?

When Fika Leon’s work Family Safari was catalogued in the company of Aboudia, Isshaq Ismail, Basquiat and Warhol in Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction in spring 2022, the artist was propelled into the spotlight. With a pre-sale estimate of £12,186 - £14,624, the artwork sold for more than £88,000. Since then, over a dozen of his works have been auctioned, averaging +398% above their estimates.

 
Yuki Aruga

Drawing on her mixed Japanese-British heritage, Yuki Aruga’s artworks explore how we understand, perceive and preserve time. Featuring meticulously observed and executed flowers and other natural subjects, the London-based artist takes inspiration from European still life paintings and religious iconography of the 16^th to 18^th centuries, as well as traditional Japanese aesthetic norms. Shortlisted for The Columbia Threadneedle Prize in 2016, Aruga has participated in more than a dozen group shows across the globe, exhibiting her work in prestigious locations such as the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

 

 
Why is Yuki Aruga on our radar?

Despite her young age, Aruga has already received multiple awards and residency grants, and succeeded in honing a distinctive signature style. An emerging artist whose vivid floral paintings chime with new and aspiring collectors, Aruga’s future solo show at Maddox Gallery in the summer of 2023 is already attracting lots of attention from young and mature collectors alike.