Explore Urban Art on Artnet

Learn more about our latest sale featuring the genre's biggest artists [Image]( [Alternate text]( Rammellzee, Mechanism Paladin Protractor Divider of the Argo, 1982 ALL ABOUT URBAN ART Arguably the oldest form of art, urban art can trace its roots back to wall markings on the city walls of ancient Greece and Rome. Even in the last hundred years, the genre has come a long way, going from rogue tags on city subway cars to hanging in the hallowed halls of museums. Although the category is still in the nascent stages of receiving scholarly attention, urban art's status as one of the oldest forms of art gives it an intrigue that traditional paint-on-canvas works simply can't compete with. Today, works by street and graffiti artists are often included in the offerings of major fine art galleries, including [Guy Hepner](, [Lougher Contemporary](, and [Taglialatella Galleries](, as well as at auction––including in spotlight category sales, like Artnet Auctions's current [Urban Art]( sale. Featuring both graffiti legends and street art stars of today, [Urban Art]( includes work from early leaders of the genre who got their starts tagging city walls in the 1980s and '90s, to newcomers who take a graffiti-like sensibility and translate it to canvas. Below, we used the Artnet Price Database to look at the data behind sales of works by three of the artists in the sale––[Rammellzee](, [Futura](, and [Kool Koor](. Read on to see why you should consider collecting work by these artists right now. LIVE NOW ON ARTNET AUCTIONS Artist Futura, who has two works live in Urban Art, was one of the pioneers of abstract (rather than text-based) graffiti. In the 1980s, he collaborated with the band The Clash, sometimes joining them onstage while they performed to spray paint backdrops. He is also one of the few street artists to cross successfully into the commercial sphere, with solo gallery exhibitions at Fun Gallery and Tony Shafrazi Gallery; inclusion in major museum shows at MoMA PS1 and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; as well as a thirty year history of sales on the secondary market. In the last decade, major works by Futura have consistently topped $30,000 at auction––making both [Easing 3]( (estimated at $20,000–30,000) and [Untitled (Crowd Control)]( (estimated at $5,000–7,000) great places to start for both seasoned and new collectors of street art. [Alternate text]( [Alternate text]( Futura Untitled (Crowd Control), 2016 Est. $5,000—7,000 Futura Easing 3, 2018 Est. $20,000—30,000 Rammellzee (RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ) grew up in Queens, New York, first tagging his local A-train subway with graffiti in the 1970s. He rose to wider prominence after being featured in Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 cult movie Wild Style, and releasing a hip hop single with rapper K-Rob that featured cover art by Basquiat. His work came to the secondary market a handful of times in the 1990s and 2000s, but it wasn’t until after his death in 2010 that Rammellzee’s work began to regularly achieve five-figure results at auction. The market momentum has picked up even more recently, with Rammellzee’s work topping $100,000 at auction four times in the last three years. [Mechanism Paladin Protractor Divider of the Argo]( (shown at the top), offered in our sale, is estimated at a reasonable $60,000–80,000. [Alternate text]( Kool Koor Untitled, circa 1989 Est. $10,000—15,000 A peer of Keith Haring and Basquiat who grew up in the Bronx, Charles Hargrove, aka Kool Koor, is slightly newer to the secondary market. Still, his works have sold consistently well at auction recently, and three of his top ten results were achieved just last year. Because of his well-known peers and status as one of the pioneers of graffiti art, and works held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, it’s a great time to collect a well-priced work by Kool Koor––[Untitled]( is estimated at $10,000–15,000––before the market really catches up. Click below to explore these works and more, live now on Artnet Auctions. [SEE MORE ARTWORK]( READ MORE WITH ARTNET NEWS Follow the market alongside our best-in-class team of journalists at [Artnet News](. Explore a selection of stories about the market for urban art, including ones that feature [Ron English]( and [Richard Hambleton](––both of whom are represented in our Urban Art sale. [Alternate text]( Amid Landmark Auction Sales, the Market for Late Street Artist Richard Hambleton Is Booming [Learn more about why it's a great time to invest in Hambleton's work.]( [Alternate text]( Ron English Will Whitewash the $730,000 Banksy Mural He Just Bought [Find out why he sees this as a protest.]( [Alternate text]( Street Art Is a Global Commercial Juggernaut With a Diverse Audience. Why Don’t Museums Know What to Do With It? [Experts weigh in on what's keeping the most popular form of contemporary art from receiving attention from traditional museums.]( Be sure to check out the rest of the artists in Artnet Auctions's Urban Art sale, and place your bids before the sale closes on September 10. [SEE MORE]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [LinkedIn]( Having trouble viewing this email? Click [here](. This email was sent by Artnet Worldwide Corporation. 233 Broadway, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10279 To unsubscribe, click [here](. 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