🔥 Gulf States Rise + Russell Young

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HEY Y’ALL!

Thanks for all the great feedback on the Luigi Ontani piece I shared last day!

🔥 ICYMI – Catchs from the Last Week:

1. Lee Ufan, In Milano 3, 1992 - priced at £6,500

2. Sola Olulode, Everyday Gets Hotter Than The One Before, 2021 - priced at £10,000

3. Cece Philips, Cheek to Cheek, 2022 - priced at at £12,500

Today we have a Russell Young, and this one’s not some lazy pop remix. Meanwhile, Gulf-backed artists quietly dominate new institutional pipelines.

-Today’s Catch-

Russell Young

💭 My 2 Cents: Look, if you’re gonna hang a Marilyn on your wall, at least pick one that doesn’t scream “hotel lobby.” Marilyn Crying hits different. It’s 2013 Young, peak era, and she’s not pouting in neon, she’s breaking down. Less sex symbol, more existential crisis wrapped in diamond dust. It’s tragic, theatrical, and yeah, probably more honest than half the pop icons hanging in your typical Soho flat. You’re buying the illusion unraveling. And in this economy, that’s pretty on-brand.

🔑 Key Numbers: Made in 2013, Young’s highest-performing year to date, with an average price premium of +96.4%. The £23K ask (~$29K) might raise eyebrows, but keep in mind: the 2024 auction average sits at $5K, and that’s mostly prints and leftovers. This one’s 162.6 x 124.5 cm, diamond dust, and a standout from a sold-out series. Sotheby’s had an 85% sell-through rate for Young, but he barely showed up in 2024, just eight works sold. Translation? Supply is drying up, while the good ones are getting parked in private collections.

🧠 Why It’s a Smart Pick: If you're gonna spend on a Russell Young, make it count. This isn’t some over-editioned filler, it's a prime-format piece from his top year, and the subject still punches. Market’s soft, yes. But that also means you’re not paying peak hype. The upside? Modest. The downside? Limited. Worst case, you live with a museum-grade Marilyn that doesn’t insult your taste. That’s a win.

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-In a Minute-

🔥 Words I Like: micro-hubs, soft-power, decentralize-this

Gulf States Rise

Dubai’s building a new museum every week. Riyadh’s pumping residencies and opening institutions like it’s a national sport. Sharjah’s running co-commissions across Rome and Alserkal, and nobody’s blinking. The point? The art world’s new power grid is being rewired, and it’s not asking for permission.

Forget the old gatekeepers in Mayfair or the Marais. Cultural capital is something you build, not inherit. And the Gulf? They're playing for keeps. Infrastructure, not Instagram.

Collectors, here’s the read: if your radar is stuck on blue-chip at Frieze, you're missing a slower, smarter land grab happening elsewhere. These hubs don’t care if they’re in the “center.” They are the center—for their region, their diaspora, their collector base.

Sharjah, Al-'Ula, Abu Dhabi. They’re building ecosystems: spaces, studios, archives, schools. Long-term moves.

And the works coming out of these ecosystems? Under-collected. Underpriced. Underestimated. You want leverage? Back an artist before the Louvre Abu Dhabi calls.

Art doesn’t need a ZIP code to matter anymore. It needs context, narrative, and momentum. The GCC region is stacking all three while the West is busy curating retrospectives for dead men.

Want edge? Track cross-institutional collabs—Rome to Sharjah, Sydney to the Gulf.

Follow the money: where residencies pop up, dealflow usually follows. Riyadh isn’t throwing all that oil cash around for nothing.

Galleries: get your people on the ground. Advisors: update your maps. Collectors: stop waiting for the Tate to co-sign it. That’s the lazy move.

The future’s not centralized, and it’s not slow. If you’re not building ties in these markets now, someone else is already shaking hands.

-Whenever You Are Ready-

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-Alvaro (@theartmarketguy)

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Not financial advice. Frame&Flame is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions.