Banksy is one of the most provocative contemporary artists. After one of his major works 'Girl with a Balloon' sold for over a million pounds at a Sotheby's auction in London, a shredder hidden in the picture's frame shredded its canvas into a series of thin strips. Furthermore, some rumors have reported that it was the artist himself, present in the room at the time of the auction, who activated the mechanism.
If on the one hand Banksy strongly opposes public auctions of his efforts and never misses an opportunity to underline his disappointment at seeing his works banned, on the other hand it is good to underline how much the art market is expanding. One of the latest works auctioned off was Leonardo da Vinci's Salvador Mundi, awarded last November by a Saudi prince for 450 million dollars. It is the most expensive work in the history of public auctions.
In general, 2017 was a very profitable year for the art market, in which a large number of assets were sold at a cost exceeding 2 million dollars - a good 752 works compared to 472 in 2016 -, according to the data reported in the report "The 2018 Art and Collectibles Market" by Deloitte.
But art isn't just for Scrooge McDuck: UBS points out that 11 percent of the works cost less than $1.000 and 20 percent of these were sold for between one thousand and five thousand last year. The best customers are the Americans who top the rankings both in terms of purchase volumes and that relating to the value of sales, followed by the Chinese and the British. In the top ten countries with the highest number of sales according to Deloitte there is also the Belpaese which includes 2 percent of the total, below the Swiss, Spanish, French and tied with Japanese, Australians and Asians.
The branch of art that most attracts collectors is painting, which according to Deloitte data generated 71 per cent of total turnover in 2017, down slightly from the result of 82 per cent in 2016. This slight decline in results it is also due to the change in the market which has opened up to minor arts, such as jewelery and wines, which have recorded unsold rates close to zero.
Auctions alone, according to the UBS report, represent 47 percent of the art market, with revenues growing internationally by +4% compared to 2016. Fairs also play a top-level role in the ranking: it is estimated which in 2017 accounted for 46 per cent of sales through intermediaries and are considered by galleries to be the most effective way to acquire new customers. Among the most important are the international Art Basel fair which in 2016 gathered 95 thousand people in Basel; in London there is the Frieze London, in Paris the Fiac Paris which recorded 75 thousand visitors last year, while in Italy it is the turn of Bologna with its Arte Fiera which hosted 2017 thousand people in 48.
The main places of the art market are New York which confirmed its leadership with a turnover of 4,4 million dollars, up on 2016 and which alone represented 54% of the global turnover of the entire painting segment; London contributed 30 percent to the market with $2,81 billion and Asia was able to enter the scene with $824,9 million and a 2017 percent share of 10,4 revenue.
Although auctions are the playing field for the main sales of works of art, online commerce is also important, for which internet sales have come to generate volumes equal to 5,4 million dollars and represent 8 percent in revenues, up 10% annually.
