10 In-Demand Works on Artsy This Week: February 25, 2021

In this weekly series, Artsy’s Curatorial and Editorial teams offer a look at the artworks that are currently gaining traction among collectors on Artsy. Looking at our internal data, we share a selection of works that Artsy members are engaging with through inquiries, page views, and saves, plus promising lots in current auctions. The following pieces are culled from recent online auctions and art fairs hosted on Artsy, as well as exhibitions and works added by our gallery partners.

Amoako Boafo, Yaw Abedi (2019)

Interest in this painting by the sensational Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo has been high this past week, reflecting the artist’s continued astronomical market presence. One of our most influential artists of 2020 and featured in the 2020 edition of The Artsy Vanguard, Boafo made art world headlines last February when his 2019 canvas The Lemon Bathing Suit—his secondary-market debut—sold for over 13 times its high estimate, setting a pattern for his work at auction since. Boafo’s work is currently featured in Ross-Sutton Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “BLACK VOICES: Friend of My Mind,” a group show curated by Destinee Ross-Sutton exploring rest, self-love, care, and introspection throughout the African diaspora.

Browse available works by Amoako Boafo.

Barry Yusufu, Against the book (2020)

This work by Barry Yusufu, which was shown as part of CFHILL’s group show “Stop, listen!” has seen continued collector interest since the exhibition closed on February 12th. Rendered using charcoal, acrylic paint, and coffee, Yusufu’s canvas demonstrates the influence of portrait painters like Amy Sherald and Barkley L. Hendricks, whose use of bold colors and pared-down compositions imbue their subjects with otherworldly auras.

Browse available works by Barry Yusufu.

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (1990)

This painting featuring one of Yayoi Kusama’s iconic polka-dotted pumpkins is, unsurprisingly, receiving a flurry of inquiries. The artist’s obsession with drawing gourds began as a child, having grown up in Japan on a plant nursery abundant with kabocha squash. Her infatuation has proven to be contagious; in 2019, another one of Kusama’s 1990 pumpkin paintings sold at auction in Taiwan for $6.2 million at Ravenel. Kusama will open a string of highly anticipated exhibitions across the world this year, including shows at the New York Botanical Garden, the Gropius Bau, and the Hirshhorn.

Browse available works by Yayoi Kusama.

Etel Adnan, En attendant la lumière (2020)

One of the most beloved contemporary Arab American writers working today, Lebanese American poet Etel Adnan is also renowned for her equally evocative artistic output. Composed of vibrant fields of color echoing the sun-drenched landscapes of her home in Sausalito, California, the paintings reflect Adnan’s deep reverence for nature and spirituality. This etching in particular seems to have found resonance with Artsy collectors this past week.

Browse available works by Etel Adnan.

Sergi Cadenas, Blue Eyes (2020)

Part of Spanish artist Sergi Cadenas’s current solo show at Barcelona’s Galeria Jordi Barnadas, this painting has received a number of inquiries. His three-dimensional portraits use optical techniques to illustrate dualities within a single canvas. In this work, young contrasts with old, shifting depending on where the viewer is standing.

Browse available works by Sergei Cadenas.

Megan Magill, Life Buoy (2020)

At this year’s benefit auction for the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA), this whimsical Megan Magill painting is steadily closing in on its estimate through a consistent stream of bids. The work is from her painting series “You Me and Everyone We Know.” This past summer, Magill’s work was selected to be included in an online group exhibition at the CMCA titled “Lush, Hush,” which showcased works by 16 Maine-based artists.

Browse available works by Megan Magill.

Hernan Bas, The Gourd Nest Hanger (2010)

This lithograph by Hernan Bas, currently available through Seoul Auction’s “Spring in Bloom” sale, presents a rare opportunity to collect a work by the artist on Artsy. Known for portraying curious scenes of self-discovery, his characters are often “on the verge of understanding themselves,” as Bas recently told Artsy. “I don’t necessarily think of all my characters as being queer necessarily, but they’re involved in a situation that is queer a lot of the time. So it’s also about sort of celebrating the oddness that exists in the world.” Featuring a young man clinging to a tree branch, surrounded by a colorful canopy of gourd bird feeders, this piece by Bas is no exception in its oddity.

Browse available works by Hernan Bas.

Loie Hollowell, Standing in Shadow (2018)

Last February in a Christie’s online auction, a 2018 woodblock print by Loie Hollowell obliterated its high estimate of £8,000 ($10,413), achieving nearly three times that when it sold for £22,500 ($29,289). With that sale in mind, this comparable print by Hollowell is expected to be a promising lot in Artsy and Forum Auctions’s “Here and Now” sale. Printed using the traditional Ukiyo-e technique of Japanese woodblock printing, this luminous piece—the 15th in an edition of 25—is a prime example of Hollowell’s mastery of color and form.

Browse available works by Loie Hollowell.

Raymond Pettibon, Untitled (When the Ground Becomes Hard and Firm) (2002)

Another print that’s making waves at Artsy and Forum Auctions’s “Here and Now” sale is this etching by the American iconoclast Raymond Pettibon. The piece has already surpassed its high estimate with just four bids. One of the most prominent figures to come out of Southern California’s punk scene in the 1980s, Pettibon is known for his idiosyncratic, satirical lens, which has made him a beloved cult figure among collectors. This piece is from Pettibon’s long-standing series capturing surf culture, which, as Artsy once observed, is one of the few subjects that is “mostly spared from the artist’s raging cultural criticism.”

Browse available works by Raymond Pettibon.

March Avery, Springtime (2006)