[JustinD]

Octavio is 100% correct. Nothing in the art world is currently appreciating at the level of Basquiat and Warhol. The classical masters are in demand by museums and the foreign market but the American collectors and investment portfolios like Masterworks are fully in on Pop. The creation of those investment groups like Masterworks is a major part of this growth as the collector market for true pieces is now in such echelons that a capital in the hundreds of millions may as well stay home. Group shares are the only option for investment in many artists.

As just as much of an art collector as a card collector, the vision in Basquiat has made him my favorite painter for years. It is also at a current level that the only bidding is reserved for billionaires and I expect a consistent back and forth between Basquiat and Warhol to continue to set pop art sale price records for years to come. If a serious icon Basquiat work like "Untitled" or The Skull as some call it was to come up now, I would guess 200 or 250 Million would be light.

While I appreciate that taste is subjective and interpretation (I have no flavor for Impressionism or Cubism), I can honor the style and respect others give it.

I am also very lucky to have started young and have purchased several original works at auction in the 90's when the market was slower that would be well out of my range today. I also scour the market for talent that is up and coming. This worked very well when I bought several screenprints in the mid-90s from a young Shepard Fairey who was literally placing ads in classified sections. Those were 50 bucks apiece and as some of his earliest works were just shy of 20k each not long ago. I have not seen any sell in years as they were limited to 50.

The art market is one of the few that is so insulated, that a full on depression could not slow it due to the extreme wealth of it's major players worldwide.