Top 300 Artist Searches On Artnet

popular blue-chip artists such as Andy Warhol (5th), Pablo Picasso (6th), Roy Lichtenstein (9th), and Jean-Michel Basquiat (10th) fill out the remaining spots.

Every month thousands of users visit the artnet artist pages searching for information about their favorite artists. artnet News analyzed the results for the month of May to see what they reveal about the state of the art market, and what it says about today's popular artists.

Those who made it to the top 10 are hardly surprising. They include three photographers known primarily for their depictions of female nudes, including the number one most-searched artist Nobuyoshi Araki, the Japanese photographer who revels in bondage imagery. Michael Dweck occupies the number two spot, and is known for his erotic Americana photography. New entrant Randall Slavin inched to the fourth slot after he made headlines in May for his nude photographs of Entourage actress Emmanuelle Chriqui.
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The popular and mysterious British street artist Banksy took the number three spot, British pop artist David Spiller occupied number seven, and the popular American photographer Diane Arbus takes eighth place. She is the first woman to make the top 10 list this month. Meanwhile, popular blue-chip artists such as Andy Warhol (5th), Pablo Picasso (6th), Roy Lichtenstein (9th), and Jean-Michel Basquiat (10th) fill out the remaining spots.

Outside the (somewhat predictable) top 10 some interesting trends emerged.  Grayson Perry jumped from 77th to 18th place after making headlines for his latest not-so-subtle criticism of the British financial services industry, where he employed a new phallic ceramic artwork featuring banknotes and the face of the British finance minister George Osborne.
 
After being absent from the list between December and April, French 18th century painter Hubert Robert likely experienced the jump to 174th place after the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC announced a major survey of his work, which opens on June 26th.

The record $17.2 million sale of Maurizio Cattelan's sculpture of a kneeling Adolph Hitler at Christie's "Bound to Fail" curated sale may have propelled the Italian artist onto the list (after not even making it on the previous five months). The sale of the sculpture was apparently so inspiring that someone in Basel pulled a stunt and placed a copy of the figurine bearing the likeness of Donald Trump in the bar at the swanky hotel Les Trois Rois.
 
Elsewhere, Mark Bradford made the list (in 296th place) after having been excluded for five months. Searches increased after the painter was selected to represent the United States at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

François Morellet was extensively searched after dying at the age of 90 on May 11, rising to 136th place after having been absent from the list between December and April. And interest in Malian photographer Malick Sidibé spiked at 34th placefollowing his death in April, but subsided again in May.

So, in sum, ruling the month of May for user searches were erotic photography, blue-chip artists, and major exhibition announcements, along with deaths, and high-priced auction lots.
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​Source:  Artnet News

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