Last month saw a wave of market activity on opposite sides of the globe. Both New York and Hong Kong hosted major evening auctions and art fairs (Frieze in New York, Art Basel in Hong Kong). So perhaps it’s not surprising that there was also a flurry of searches on the Artnet Price Database.

The queries aren’t free, which means those running them have skin in the game, and changing rankings can offer a snapshot of business interests and activity in particular artists, especially on the secondary market. Below, we bring you the list of the top-searched artists on the Artnet Price Database in May 2021. (Those who had the same number of searches are listed as tied.) 

Before we get into that, however, here is a selection of artists on the rise who haven’t cracked the top 300 yet—but might soon. The selection reveals a moment when portraiture and still lifes remain at the forefront of popular taste, but a new aesthetic, characterized by digitally rendered cityscapes, maps, and architecture, is also emerging. 

Notable Fast-Risers

Jonathan Chapline (b. 1987)

Jonathan Chapline, The Room (2019). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.

The Brooklyn-based artist uses 3D rendering software to create imagined, vintage-looking spaces that he enlivens with rich gradients of acrylic paint. In May 2020, Chapline had no PDB searches recorded, and his works were selling on the primary market for under $15,000. Seven months later, one of his sought-after interior scenes sold for $243,861 (HK$1.9 million) at Phillips in association with Poly Auction, nearly quadrupling its high estimate. Next week, two more works by Chapline are hitting the block at Phillips Hong Kong—and with nearly 50 searches in April and May, it’s safe to say there is substantial interest in where his market is heading.  

Jammie Holmes (b. 1984)

Jammie Holmes, First Birthday (2020). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.

The self-taught, neo-expressionist painter depicts his subjects—Black men and women—often looking directly at the viewer. Eight works by the Dallas-based artist have come to auction so far in 2021, all of which have handily outperformed their high estimates. Most recently, a painting of a boy in an inflatable pool sold for a record $193,231 (HK$1.5 million) at Christie’s Hong Kong on May 25. In May 2020, Holmes did not accrue a single search in the PDB; last month, he had 85. 

Sohei Nishino (b. 1982)

Sohi Nishino, Diorama Map London (2010). Courtesy of the artist and Michael Hoppen Gallery, London.

The Japanese artist’s massive “Diorama maps” capture urban landscapes through a mix of photography, collage, and cartography. (To gather raw material for his work, Nishino wanders a city’s streets for an average of three months.) The artist—who was the subject of a solo show at SFMOMA in 2016—saw a steep incline in searches from April 2021 (3) to May 2021 (17). His 2010 map of London sold at Phillips London on May 20 for $85,762 (£60,480), comfortably within its £50,000 to £70,000 estimate.

Susumu Kamijo (b. 1975)

Susumu Kamijo, For Your Love (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Christie’s Images, Ltd.

The Brooklyn-based, Japanese-born artist’s abstracted paintings of poodles look like what might happen if Warhol met the Hairy Who and they attended the Westminster Dog Show together. Kamijo, who shows with Jack Hanley in New York, is just starting to make waves on the secondary market (as well as in the Artnet Price Database, where his searches ranked alongside market darlings like Vaughn Spann and Allison Zuckerman last month). A painting he donated to benefit RxArt sold at Christie’s New York on May 14 for $93,750, shattering its $15,000 high estimate. 

Chris Huen (b. 1991)

Chris Huen, Muimui (2018). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.

The Hong Kong-based artist creates drawings and paintings that contain overlapping perspectives of his life at home in Yuen Long, conferring a sense of constant motion. Huen—who drew 50 searches across April and May—has developed a passionate, dedicated following in Asia in recent years, and his market shows no sign of slowing down. On May 24, his painting of a dog sitting in a garden sold for $177,074 (HK$1.4 million) at Christie’s Hong Kong, more than doubling its HK$500,000 high estimate. Huen’s top three auction prices were all set in April and May of this year. 

300 Most-Searched Artists in the Artnet Price Database, May 2021