[LJCal]

I’m bringing a large Blek Le Rat canvas to the market shortly. It’s a studio piece of the Jesus street piece in Paris. It’s 80 x 70 inch (200x175cm) spray on canvas and tagged with his rat. I’ll be asking around £35k and it’s UK based. Please get in touch if of interest.

[cheffe stefano]

Lovely piece.
Today BLR broke the new auction record at Phillips (110k euros)

[LJCal]

Apr 22, 2024 19:29:01 GMT 1 cheffe stefano said:

Lovely piece.
Today BLR broke the new auction record at Phillips (110k euros)

Yes I saw this, this piece is a bargain then. Maybe I should put the price up 🤔 lol

[begs]

This was also in a print

[alberti]

There was a print... but Blek's prints aren't doing well.
His UK show was a success so for sure his canvas got a price hike.

[Reader]

It's an interesting time for Blek, prices for originals have steadily grown since signing on with Woodbury House and their Mayfair client base. I imagine he'll follow Hambleton & Invader with prices that are commensurate with his place in the culture and legacy. There's obviously the danger the recent Phillips result is a "pump and dump" but I doubt someone of Blek's standing could really be "dumped" as such. I doubt the secondary print market will change, there's so much out there, but the amount of originals are quite limited and quality works scarce.

[Fuzzyduck121]

The Blek / Woodbury House pump and dump is now in full effect people

His socials have been taken over by WH and simultaneously to a show in London of his originals a record for an original is broken at auction

Who would have thought it

What will follow are social media posts and investment pdfs indicating annual returns based on the single auction result followed by a second release of originals at a higher price but lower than the auction result

Forewarned is forearmed

[Terry Fuckwitt]

Apr 23, 2024 9:06:37 GMT 1 Fuzzyduck121 said:

The Blek / Woodbury House pump and dump is now in full effect people

His socials have been taken over by WH and simultaneously to a show in London of his originals a record for an original is broken at auction

Who would have thought it

What will follow are social media posts and investment pdfs indicating annual returns based on the single auction result followed by a second release of originals at a higher price but lower than the auction result

Forewarned is forearmed

This ☝️

[Terry Fuckwitt]

Not surprising that 'record breaking' sale of Tango was on display at Woodbury House last year

[wendywendy]

This feels very Thierry Noir all over again.

[Wanchope]

Isn’t it just one result at auction or am I missing something? Are you all just predicting what you think will happen or have there been more results to make you think it’s going in the direction of Thierry Noir for example?

[cheffe stefano]

Apr 23, 2024 10:50:27 GMT 1 Wanchope said:

Isn’t it just one result at auction or am I missing something? Are you all just predicting what you think will happen or have there been more results to make you think it’s going in the direction of Thierry Noir for example?

I don't know if I am taken in too, I just reported a fact, without wanting to make predictions. However, I also notice that every print of BLR is always sold out, despite having raised the price by 30 percent since 2021, anticipating a little bit the disproportionate prices in the secondary market. Surely the gallery's marketing is helping him, but it shouldn't be strange to anyone; galleries do this.

[Fuzzyduck121]

Apr 23, 2024 10:50:27 GMT 1 Wanchope said:

Isn’t it just one result at auction or am I missing something? Are you all just predicting what you think will happen or have there been more results to make you think it’s going in the direction of Thierry Noir for example?

I think whats being discussed is market manipulation rather than price rises

you do know what a pump and dump scheme is?

Do you think Noir is going to keep rising and end up backed by gagosian and shown in the MoMa? 

[alberti]

I wrote this on another threads. I have a beautiful Blek's print that he did during his first UK exhibition (few weeks after being mentioned by Banksy) called " Diana and Angel". I asked two auction house for value and was really disappointed by the amount given, one even told me 400 EUR.

I was like, wait? His crappy small rats sell at 300 EUR+ and sold out. I have a large size early Blek and given low estimates.

"He had a funny period, releasing bad prints (remember, the yak cow with Laz, then odd stuff like kids holding flags, rats in toy cars, etc.). Then he released quite a lot of rats through his shop. So his prints are a bit of a miss; there are still some early prints available in shop. I have Diana and Angels, a large print on thick paper with thick paint; the only print from his UK Banksy Show I think. I had evaluated last week, considering selling, got 600-700 eur I was expecting 1000+. "

[Peter Bengtsen]

Apr 23, 2024 8:53:29 GMT 1 Reader said:

It's an interesting time for Blek, prices for originals have steadily grown since signing on with Woodbury House and their Mayfair client base. I imagine he'll follow Hambleton & Invader with prices that are commensurate with his place in the culture and legacy. There's obviously the danger the recent Phillips result is a "pump and dump" but I doubt someone of Blek's standing could really be "dumped" as such. I doubt the secondary print market will change, there's so much out there, but the amount of originals are quite limited and quality works scarce.

Ain't that the truth.

----------------------------------------
streetartworld.bigcartel.com
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[Reader]

Agree with all of the above, but unlike the pump and dump of emerging artists I think this is justified in that his prices should better reflect his standing in the culture, if the likes of Invader, JR, Jonone etc are at this price point then surely Blek should be up there too. I'd imagine this is what WH genuinely believe. WH have a responsibility here, so whether this is regarded as manipulative or seen as a genuine desire to "lift" his profile to match that of others isn't really in conflict. I'd love to see the guy getting paid. He aint getting any younger.

[Fuzzyduck121]

they genuinely believe in profit thats for sure

[Reader]

Apr 23, 2024 11:19:10 GMT 1 Fuzzyduck121 said:

they genuinely believe in profit thats for sure

Commercial Gallery in Mayfair run by the privileged for the privileged. The Streets are still ours :-)

[cheffe stefano]

Apr 23, 2024 11:15:40 GMT 1 alberti said:

I wrote this on another threads. I have a beautiful Blek's print that he did during his first UK exhibition (few weeks after being mentioned by Banksy) called " Diana and Angel". I asked two auction house for value and was really disappointed by the amount given, one even told me 400 EUR.

I was like, wait? His crappy small rats sell at 300 EUR+ and sold out. I have a large size early Blek and given low estimates.

"He had a funny period, releasing bad prints (remember, the yak cow with Laz, then odd stuff like kids holding flags, rats in toy cars, etc.). Then he released quite a lot of rats through his shop. So his prints are a bit of a miss; there are still some early prints available in shop. I have Diana and Angels, a large print on thick paper with thick paint; the only print from his UK Banksy Show I think. I had evaluated last week, considering selling, got 600-700 eur I was expecting 1000+. "

wow, 700 euro seems really low to me ahahah. Even just on pages like Catawiki I see sales above 1300 euros. Btw, I would like to defend the work that I have, Rope Pulling (I've seen that in the forum it's a pretty hated work ahahah). It has always enjoyed me to give the reading of the work as him versus the new generation of street artists. But that's because I always had a lot of sympathy and empathy for those who didn't make it. So I saw it as a little "payback," as in, "I'm still there and maybe I can have the success I think I deserve"

[Richy Rich]

I was quite heavily advised to invest in Blek originals by someone claiming to be in the know about 6 months ago so feels like the wheels have been in motion for some time.

[Cocteau 101]

I have a decent sized Chaplin original might put it in auction and see how it goes.

[Wanchope]

Apr 23, 2024 11:13:32 GMT 1 Fuzzyduck121 said:

Apr 23, 2024 10:50:27 GMT 1 Wanchope said:

Isn’t it just one result at auction or am I missing something? Are you all just predicting what you think will happen or have there been more results to make you think it’s going in the direction of Thierry Noir for example?

I think whats being discussed is market manipulation rather than price rises

you do know what a pump and dump scheme is?

Do you think Noir is going to keep rising and end up backed by gagosian and shown in the MoMa? 

Yes fuzzy duck I am well aware of what a pump and dump is about thank you. Market manipulation and price rises go hand in hand so not sure of your point there? There have been lots of so called emerging artists that have gone from hero to zero, but let’s not forget Blek should be and I believe is well respected and been around some time now. Personally I find that particular recent auction result ridiculous, but to be honest I’ve found various Banksy works to have sold for ridiculous levels and never to be repeated. All markets have their peaks or anomalies and maybe this is his time? I also firmly believe there is market manipulation behind the majority of artists a s there is in property, cars and every other asset

[Deleted]

From what I hear the next show at Woodbury will be Bleks last with them, the contract will be up. Given Bleks place in history 35k for an original canvas surprises me compared to other artists in the scene,I would have expected more tbh. Although I  don't follow his market or have any sense of output etc to really have any understanding.

[wendywendy]

Apr 23, 2024 10:21:06 GMT 1 wendywendy said:

This feels very Thierry Noir all over again.

I didn't mean this in a positive way.

I am saying the market manipulation feels eerily familiar.

[LJCal]

I have no idea what is going on with him and Woodbury, this is a secondary sale, I have never spoken to the artist or Woodbury so can't comment on the last auction result. I certainly would never dress this up as a get rich quick scheme, there are probably far better options if you're looking for investments and right now and not many involve buying art. My opinion for what it's worth is I think it's far too early to call yesterday's auction result part of any sort of pump and dump, if you look at his history this is only a little higher than some results that were achived years ago, way before Woodbury were involved, in fact his 2nd highest sale was over 8 years ago at around 70,000 Euro, his top 20 auction results are from 2008-2024 with the median date around 2017. I think it's not really fair to be calling it a pump and dump based on the current publically available information, so unless someone has private information I would probably caveat what you're saying.

Furthermore he's not exactly an artist that has come from out of the blue, he's been doing this since the 70s, hence he has history and a collector base. This also means his works are spread far and wide which make a pump and dump much harder, as once prices start rising the numbers for sale at auction will go up and it will be too expensive to support. Control of supply is crucial for pump and dump hence why most are done with emerging artists.

Obviously I can't say for certain if the Phillips result was an arms length sale, time will tell. If you start seeing lots of six figure sales in quick sucession (with some breaking the £150-200k mark) at auction then that would look like manipulation to me. Like I have said elsewhere auction results should always be taken with a pinch of salt and should only be one of multiple indicators used to value a work; in terms of buying a work valuation is itself only one of several factors a buyer should consider. On this one a similar size triptych sold at about 34,000 Euro in 2021 and I know of some private sales at similar levels for large canvases, that's my basis for the valuation, but as always the only opinion that matters when it comes to value is the person who buys it.

[LJCal]

Apr 23, 2024 10:50:27 GMT 1 Wanchope said:

Isn’t it just one result at auction or am I missing something? Are you all just predicting what you think will happen or have there been more results to make you think it’s going in the direction of Thierry Noir for example?

There haven't been, it's specualtion. As I said in post above his previous highest sale was 70,000 Euro in 2016, hardly a great return of 30% in 8 years (doubt it's kept up with inflation). His top 20 auction results span from 2008-2024 with a median date of around 2017, even since Woodbury started marketing his work there have only been a handful of auction results that make the top 10. I'm not saying this couldn't be the start of something, so many shifty galleries out there as we know, but right now unless someone has some inside info it's entirely speculative. 

[Simococo]

It's a very interesting auction result that's for sure..

[milkador]

Isn't it run by Steven Sully. He's a self made man. 

www.gripeo.com/steven-sulley/

[alberti]

Apr 24, 2024 8:57:31 GMT 1 milkador said:

Isn't it run by Steven Sully. He's a self made man. 

www.gripeo.com/steven-sulley/

Funny, reminds me of Robert Devereux, Virgin partner, who invested heavily in African art and created a Trust, in partnership with banks.... while at the same time, having a green forest/carbon company with directors of same banks in the board, known for land grabbing and evicted poor people from forest with police and military in Uganda.  
www.google.com/search?q=%22Robert+Devereux%22+forest+uganda
www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/events/oversize/2010Joburg_Sullivan.pdf

[Reader]

Fascinating website, thanks for sharing.