Why You Should Go Invest in African Art Right Now
Money makes the world go round. So as much as we may like to think that passion, talent and inspiration should be the primary drivers of art, it’s just not true. Money provides the motivation, and the ability for artists the have a good standard of living which in turn frees them up for creativity. What’s more, putting such monetary value to art ensures that artworks can be investments where people can store their money for the long-term and see it grow. Still, what sets art apart is that it is also an investment that instills passion.
That passion in African art, in particular, is growing! But because it’s a nascent space, potential investors (hopefully you) may be unsure about whether to invest, even if the artwork is appealing on an emotional level. This article aims to address that - why should you be investing in African art now?
We’ve got four good reasons for you.
The art market in general is expected to increase, and African art with it
This fact is reflected in the size of the global art market - the overall value of the art market is USD 350 billion, expected to reach USD 550 billion by 2025.
Art was up USD 64 billion in sales in 2019, though the pandemic saw this reduced by 20% in 2020. Of these sales, African art was about USD 13 billion - though this latest figure is from 2018 and it has likely reduced by the same trend due to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, it is noteworthy and has been growing every year before the pandemic.
We should mention though, that even as the pandemic reduced sales overall, it also (like in every other industry) boosted online sales channels so much so that online sales of art increased from USD 6 billion in 2019 to USD 12.4 billion in 2020. Plus, it went from just 9% of overall sales value of art in 2019 to 25% in 2020!
Which brings us to the next point
There is a host of activity with galleries, auctions houses and fairs, which bodes well for sales
Since 2015, Africa’s art scene has been burgeoning with fairs, gallery openings and auctions. But let’s give Sotheby’s their due for bringing African art to (more of) the mainstream in 1999 when they sold a selection of African pieces from a private collection. It was the first big international sale of African art and started something that we’re seeing take off exponentially over the last 3-4 years!
Art X fair in Lagos, via The Guardian Nigeria
To give a good illustration of how far we’ve come, Sotheby’s initially sales raised $18,000 (low but was an acceptable deal for the size of the lots), but a similar sale in 2019 generated $3 million. Things are picking up, albeit slowly but surely.
We can also see this ‘pick up’ in the many art hubs that have risen in Africa. For the first time, we seem to have art markets and fairs dedicated to African art everywhere! Take 1-54 happening annually in Marrakech, London and New York, Dakar Biennale, or Art X held annually in Lagos. These fairs have created unprecedented interest amongst collectors on the continent, and even increased awareness about art amongst youth.
“African collectors from different regions are now interested in buying African art from different regions. There will be an African art market. It’s just the beginning”
And it is just the beginning! We’re also seeing infrastructure to support African art crop up for the first time. Museums such as Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakesh, Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, African Artist Foundation in Lagos, Montresso Art Foundation in Marrakesh and Lagos Center for Contemporary Art are some well-known names. These institutions are setting the ground work for a strong and competitive artist and collector base on the continent. Several established artists are also increasingly becoming mentors and setting up their own institutions to grow emerging artists, e.g. Kehinde Wiley recently launched Black Rock, an Artist residency program in Dakar and Michael Armitage launched the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute.
Cross section of artists-in-residence in Black Rock Senegal, via Rogers Projects
The increasingly prominent presence of African art in established art fairs and events is also noteworthy! Like in the Venice Art Biennale, Frieze Los Angeles, Art Basel Miami Beach, and the New York MoMA. Investec Cape Town Art Fair, arguably the most established art fair on the continent, is increasingly attracting international collectors.
Giles Peppiatt, Director of Modern and Contemporary African Art at Bonhams, shares “Certainly the major museums are now very active because they all think that this is a market of the future, and they obviously want to acquire works while the prices are still relatively modest for them”
Record sales for many African artists
All this growing recognition is leading to greater appreciation of African works, even of contemporary works!! Many contemporary African artists are now doing well in sales and auctions…a good sign that there will be more to follow.
Sotheby’s $3million African art auction which we referenced earlier actually set new auction records for five prominent artists - Samuel Fosso from Cameroon, Bertina Lopes from Mozambique, Elias Jengo from Tanzania, Richard Mudariki from Zimbabwe, and Shina Yusuff from Nigeria! In fact, overall, from almost nothing pre-2017, Sotheby’s has held more than 60 auctions for African artists, and through it all, about 50 artists have broken their pre-sale price estimates!
Kenyan record breaking artist, Michael Armitage
How about other examples? Late Nigerian artist, Ben Enwonwu, caught everyone’s attention when his work, Tutu, shattered the pre-sale estimate of £300,000 and sold for over £1.2 million at a Bonham auction. Senegalese artist, Papa Ibra Tall’s work also sold at a Bonham auction for almost 900% above its pre-sales estimate! It’s the same story in the French auction market too - many artists such as Ian Mwesiga from Uganda and Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba from DRC have exceeded expectations, selling over ten times their pre-sale estimates. We’re not stopping here! We’ve also got several younger African contemporary artists who are exceeding expectations. For example, Nigerian artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, exceeded expectations when a piece sold for $175,000, and Kenya’s Michael Armitage sold his work for $1.5 million. Both at a Sotheby’s auction.
If this increasingly recognized value doesn’t convince you, nothing will. But one more - another sign of growing value is increasing demand, and we are seeing this clearly through the actions of established and new collectors.
Collectors see African art as a good and growing space , and they’re the ones who create demand!
We’ve alluded to collectors being increasingly interested in African art, and even recognizing its value such that pre-sale auction prices are shattered. But Imo Dara gives us even more insight into how collectors of African art behave. The company deploys a survey every year and did so in 2021 to 230 international collectors of African art; and to interesting results!
For one, they found that collectors are more active, in terms of the frequency that they purchase African art; currently, 58% of the collectors they survey say that they are active. Paintings and illustrations account for the bulk of this activity (as opposed to photography and sculptures for example).
It seems though, that even though they might be ready to invest more in contemporary art, they’re waiting to see that space stabilize in terms of who to watch and collect. This isn’t surprising as African art is still emerging, which is why most of the collectors in the survey say they continue to focus on classic African art. Still, more and more of their budgets are being allocated to contemporary art each year.
Sotheby’s image displaying an Elias Jengo
Another interesting trend is that even though only 3% of survey respondents spend more than $250,000 annually on art, this percentage has increased from 1% reported in the 2020 survey.
And when the collectors were asked why they collect African art, 81% of them said they enjoyed the aesthetic value of the work. And 61% said because they were passionate. Only 3% said they purchased to get immediate profit from selling the artworks! This indicates that they’re ready to hold on to their artwork long term, a behavior that’s generally applauded.
Also, 72% said they look out for both established and emerging artists, and 21% said they actively look for emerging artists - this is extremely encouraging for the emerging African art market!
In conclusion, it’s more important than ever to get on the African art bandwagon, especially now that emerging artists are beginning to take their place, and more established artists are beginning to prove their resale value. The avenues to get involved are endless and more accessible than ever before…e.g. online (Imo Dara’s survey showed that 75% of collectors’ budgets were spent online in 2021!).
It will surely be interesting to see how African art grows and the artists who’s worth will be proven several years from now because of the quality of their work. The signs above show that this growth is inevitable so get on it!
Words by Adiya | Research from Globe News Wire, Statista, African Business, The Art Newspaper, Artsy, Artprice, Artnet, and Imo Dara.