10 In-Demand Works on Artsy This Week: July 1, 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.

Shortly after this painting by Spanish artist Edgar Plans was uploaded to Artsy in late June by Dope! Gallery, it began receiving a significant amount of attention from collectors. The cartoon-inspired work is populated by the artist’s distinctive wide-eyed characters known as “hero animals.” Plans creates these superheroes, coupled with a vibrant color palette and street art aesthetics, to deliver critiques on racism, jealousy, and gender violence.

Baldur Helgason’s MOTHER AND CHILD has also been met with a flurry of inquiries. The demand for works by the Icelandic artist has soared in the past few months, fueled in large part by his recent record-breaking auction sales. This past April, a canvas from 2017 sold for HK$604,800 (US$77,927) at auction, far surpassing its high estimate of HK$150,000 (US$19,327). With his recent success at auction and primary-market demand, collectors can expect the value of works by the highly sought-after artist to climb.

In her paintings, Jessie Homer French routinely depicts idyllic landscapes from her life in rural California that have been ravaged by wildfires or earthquakes caused by the ongoing climate crisis. This omniscient painting by the self-taught artist has garnered strong interest recently, after it was uploaded to Artsy by the Los Angeles gallery Various Small Fires in late May. In addition to her site-specific commentaries, Homer French is known for her “mapestries”—hand-stitched wall coverings that outline the landscapes of states of the American West.

Polish Thai artist Oh de Laval has said that she takes inspiration for her faux-naïf paintings from the absurdity of everyday people and “their natural drive to be naughty.” The self-taught artist puts lush and romantic scenes under a microscope to examine the eroticism of human pleasure. This limited edition, uploaded by the Milan-based gallery Lorenzin Fine Art, is part of a set that features the artist’s commission from the American musician Kali Uchis for the cover of her 2020 EP To Feel Alive.

After receiving an influx of inquiries, this work by Marcus Brutus sold shortly after it was uploaded to Artsy in late June by Harper’s. The self-taught, New York–based artist is best known for his richly layered paintings that highlight the quotidian moments of Black life. Works by Brutus, including this 2021 painting, are currently being exhibited in a group show, titled “Potent,” at the gallery’s East Hampton location through July 21st.

Interest in this figurative painting by Bianca Nemelc has seen an uptick in the past week. The piece is featured in the new group show “Up Close and Personal” at Ross+Kramer in New York, which is on view through August 13th. At See Level with the Sea is a signature work by the artist, who seeks to connect the female form with the natural world in her dynamic paintings.

This piece by the renowned American Light and Space artist James Turrell has seen a steady stream of inquiries since being uploaded by the Mexico City–based gallery OMR in early June. Comparable works are installed the the homes of celebrities like Cara Delevigne (who shared her Turrell in a home tour with Architectural Digest last week) and Kendall Jenner. The work is part of a limited-edition set of five and is a quintessential example of the artist using glass and computerized LEDs to challenge the viewer’s perception of light and space. Turrell recently unveiled C.A.V.U. (2021), his “largest free-standing circular Skyspace,” at MASS MoCA.

Demand for this nearly six-foot-wide stitched canvas by the American artist Heather Day was through the roof, before it recently sold. The piece is currently on view through August 27th at Day’s solo exhibition “Convergence” at the New York gallery Anna Zorina. The show’s pigmented works, all created within the last year, reflect on the artist’s transient upbringing while exploring the role of movement in the painting process.

With less than a week left to bid, this editioned screen print on cotton white paper by the Australian-born, Tokyo-based artist Mark Drew is already well past its high estimate of $700 in Heritage Auctions’s “Urban Art” sale. Part of an edition of 100, the print continues Drew’s ongoing nostalgia-tinged crossover series, which pairs the artist’s renderings of Peanuts paintings with iconic rap lyrics, in this case from Jay-Z.

This Takashi Murakami lithograph is steadily approaching its high estimate at EHC Fine Art’s “Essential Editions XVIII” auction—unsurprising given the consistent demand for works by the iconic Japanese artist. One of two Murakami works included in the sale, this large-scale editioned lithograph features Murakami’s signature anthropomorphic flowers. The flower motif takes inspiration from the artist’s early studies of Nihonga, which is traditional Japanese-style painting.