THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPIC
The health of the art market is measured at the top, where eight- and nine-figure sales mark the difference between moments of boom and bust. But what about the lower end, where prices are significantly lower and the volume is much greater? What does this sector tell us?
That’s the focus of a new report released by the Affordable Art Fair in collaboration with the data analysis firm ArtTactic. Specifically, it hones in on sales under $50,000, offering a snapshot of the art market that largely exists outside Art Basel floors and Sotheby’s sales rooms.
The outlook is good and bad. On the plus side, the volume of $50k-and-under sales in 2025 was 54% higher than the average from 2015 to 2021. The value of those sales was up 21%, too. However, those numbers also represent a more recent dip. In 2025, the report reveals, total auction sales fell to $72 million—a 19% drop from the years prior.
There’s optimism that things will get back on track this year, as 69% of galleries surveyed for the report anticipate sales to grow in 2026. Even more encouraging, perhaps, is that roughly 43% of galleries said they had “more new buyers” than five years ago, and 44% said they saw “more younger buyers.”
Now, even though they deal in dollars and decimal points, reports like this aren’t an exact science. The more interesting insights often lie in the details, and in this case, they have less to do with money and more to do with the shifting demographics, buying patterns, and priorities of collectors. Indeed, one of the most obvious takeaways from the Affordable Art Fair x ArtTactic report is also one of the most revealing: the under-$50k market is not about getting rich.
More than 85% of of surveyed galleries operate with less than four full-time staffers, and 82% run either a single physical space or don’t have a space at all. Nearly 64% generate less than $250,00 in annual revenue. Meanwhile, some 55% of Gen Z collectors and 57% of Millennial collectors polled said they purchase art primarily to support the artists who make it. In this, the most populous sector of the art market, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: collecting is about solidarity, not status.
3…THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MUSEUM GIFT SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
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Don’t neglect a museum restaurant as a mere coffee stand or snack bar. Museums can offer some of the best food and ambiance in a given neighborhood. Before digging into the latest iteration of the Whitney Biennial, caffeinate with an A+ cappuccino and pastry at the Frenchette Café (related to the restaurant Frenchette in Tribeca, beloved by the galleries that operate there) on the ground floor. The thing that really makes a museum restaurant special is when the spirit of a collection melds into the dining experience. Case in point: Café Sabarsky at Neue Galerie on Fifth Avenue, which offers a portal to early-20th-century Vienna via schnitzel und schnaps. In Los Angeles, there is no place better for an iced tea and a bag of chips than at the Frank Gehry-designed Norton Simon Sculpture Garden in Pasadena. Next time you’re there sipping something cold, you’ll think, “Now this is what museum-going is all about.”
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Museum merch stores are excellent places to hunt for a great gift. Beyond donations and ticket sales, the gift shop at a museum is a main revenue generator, and institutions can get very creative with how they stock them. Just look at the MoMA Design Store. What began as an extension of the museum has grown into a standalone brand with multiple locations and a strong online presence. A well-curated shop goes far beyond souvenirs. They offer objects that translate their collection into practical usage. And in some cases, items even develop a secondary market. Vintage museum merchandise, like t-shirts, can resell for surprising sums.
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Treat these aspects of the museum as part of the visit. It’s easy to rush through a museum and leave the café and store for last, but both are designed to extend the experience beyond the galleries. A well-timed break, midway through a show rather than at the end, can reset your eye and make the rest of the visit more engaging. Spending time in these spaces, rather than treating them as an afterthought, often makes the entire visit feel more complete.
A NUMBER TO KNOW
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The number of years since an exhibition drew more teens and children to SFMOMA than its KAWS survey (closing May 3), the museum told Artnet News. The last show to attract so many youngsters to the institution was a 2019 Andy Warhol retrospective.
The youth appeal of KAWS (birth name Brian Donnelly) explains the resistance he’s faced from some corners of the rarefied art world. A former graffiti artist, KAWS first became a sensation among the streetwear and collectibles crowd for limited-edition vinyl figurines of his own cartoonish, manga-adjacent characters. To transition into fine art, he ported this motley crew over to paintings, bronze sculptures, and monumental public art commissions.
The artist’s aesthetic, work ethic, and business acumen have made him an unlikely double threat. On one hand, KAWS keeps cultivating mass appeal through collaborations, including apparel design for brands ranging from Uniqlo to Dior; album art or merch for the likes of Clipse, J-Hope of BTS, and the artist formerly known as Kanye West (before he rebranded and broke bad as Ye); and promotional imagery for the Brooklyn Nets, Fortnite, and many more.
On the other hand, KAWS has also parlayed his popularity into galleries, auction houses, and museums thirsty for a fresh take on (or at least an approximation of) pop art. In 2019, the same year his 2005 painting The Kaws Album rang up $14.7m (with fees) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, he traded a spot on the artist roster at Perrotin for one at the more refined Skarstedt—which now sells his paintings for $180,000 and up. These markers of prestige don't matter to kids now, but they sure might matter to KAWS’s bankroll and legacy once some of his youngest fans grow up and get rich.
—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market
ASK: ACCESS SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE
We ASKed: How do you evaluate whether a work is fairly priced if there's a limited sales history for that artist?
Josh Baer for NoReserve: "Fair?" What a concept when it comes to art and money! The fact that any piece of art ever sells for a lot of money is based more on faith than on economics. For primary works, the price needs to be the same (retail) to all collectors, even if the discounts aren’t. The more you buy from a gallery, the more of a discount you might get. And remember, you could receive a bigger discount if they raise the price, but you might pay more. Expecting 10% is the norm. It is in the best interest of the artist and the gallery to have fair prices, as they help sustain a long-term career.
Now for secondary works. The auction is generally believed to be a "true market." But auction prices can be manipulated by others—think about the concept of mark-to-market. Factors of provenance and quality enter into the equation, too. Often, there is a one-time, huge bump for emerging artists at their first or nearly first auction. Beware of limited data points. In general, I always think a fair price is a little more than you would like to pay and a little less than the seller would like to get.
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2 MINUTES WITH…
After decades working with the preeminent German dealer Michael Werner, Gordon VeneKlasen is striking out on his own. His new venture, VeneKlasen, recently opened in New York and London with a pair of complementary shows featuring the work of his longtime friend and collaborator, Sigmar Polke. Tune in below to hear from VeneKlasen as he discusses the New York exhibition, called "Sigmar Polke: The Dream of Menelaus.”
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