Just How Youth-Obsessed Is the Art Market Right Now? Well, Phillips Is Selling the Work of a 10-Year-Old for as Much as $50,000

Phillips Hong Kong will sell the work by Andres Valencia.

Andres Valencia in his San Diego studio. Courtesy Andres Valencia.

The 10-year-old artist Andres Valencia became an overnight sensation last year at Art Miami, where he sold paintings to the likes of entrepreneur Jordan Belfort and actors Sofia Vergara, Channing Tatum, and Brooke Shields.

Continuing his upward trajectory, the pint-sized painter’s work will hit the auction block for the first time ever, on June 21 at Phillips Hong Kong’s 20th-century and contemporary art and design day sale. The painting in question, Ms Cube (2020), is Valencia’s most notable, having been used as fodder for his first series of prints, which sold out almost immediately at Art Miami. 

Andres Valencia, Ms Cube (2020). Courtesy Andres Valencia.

Philips has estimated the lot at HK$200,000 to 400,000 ($25,600-$51,300), with a portion of the proceeds going toward Box of Hope, a charity that assists underprivileged children in Asia.

To add to the momentum, two days later, Valencia will open a solo show, titled “No Rules,” on June 23 at his gallery, Chase Contemporary in New York. The exhibition—his first one-person outing in New York City—will feature 35 works produced between 2020 and 2022 that continue to draw from Valencia’s oft-cited influences: George Condo, Picasso, and the Cubist movement. Smaller canvases begin at $15,000, with their large-scale counterparts ranging from $40,000 to $50,000.

Valencia has also created a special painting in support of Ukraine, to debut at Chase Contemporary and be made into a print edition of 500. Priced at $1,000 a pop, all earnings will directly support a charity working with the people of Ukraine.

Valencia, who has been painting since he was five, has also committed a new work to be auctioned off by Simon de Pury at the LuisaViaRoma x UNICEF summer gala in Capri, Italy, on July 30. 


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