This abstract painting, Ulter Bearing, is something of a frequent flier. Quin created it in 2019, the year she received her MFA from Yale School of Art. It’s been at auction three times since then. In 2022, it was offered at Sotheby’s Hong Kong with estimate of about $84,000 to $109,000, but it failed to sell. It returned to the block at the same place a year later, with a more modest estimate of $51,000 to $77,000. That worked, and it was purchased for $178,000.
Last week, that buyer flipped the 4.5-foot-by-6-foot canvas at Sotheby’s London, but the result was disappointing. The work hammered at just £14,000 ($18,300)—a 90 percent loss. It had been estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($33,000-$46,000). Even with fees, it made only £16,800 (about $22,000).
Curiously, Sotheby’s website doesn’t list any of the painting’s previous auction outings. Instead, the work’s provenance says that it was acquired by the present owner from Real Pain Fine Arts in Los Angeles.
Quin is part of a crop of emerging female artists who are churning out market-friendly works, using Instagram-ready palettes. Their prices and careers have skyrocketed since the pandemic. In 2022, one of Quin’s kaleidoscopic abstractions fetched $587,452 at auction, a personal record. But secondary prices have since collapsed. Last year, her highest price at auction was $242,678, according to Artnet Analytics. So far this year, it’s $97,442.
Meanwhile, Quin’s primary prices have moved in the opposite direction. In May, Quin had a prestigious solo show at 125 Newbury gallery, the Tribeca offshoot of the Pace Gallery. She scaled up in size—and prices, which ranged from $85,000 to $160,000. Apparently, everything sold.
