Ambera Wellmann
Growth#8
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
6/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
8/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
9/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
1/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
2/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
- Pricing
- 2021 2022
- Note
- Peak period with auction record established
- Range
- $107,100 GBP - $189,000 USD
- 2023 2024
- Note
- Market consolidation with strong institutional support
- Range
- $27,940 - $133,350 USD
- Early Works 2010s
- Note
- Works from 2009-2010 'Cloud' series
- Range
- $8,000 - $12,000 USD
- Collector Base
- Collector Type
- Major institutions, private collectors, foundations
- Market Segment
- Emerging blue-chip contemporary painter
- Geographic Distribution
- Strong international presence: North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East
- Primary Market
- Note
- Gallery-controlled market with 'Request Price & Availability' on recent works
- Gallery Pricing
- Contact Hauser & Wirth or Company Gallery for current pricing
- Works Size Range
- Small works: 12x16 inches to monumental: 120x168 inches (10x14 feet)
- Pricing by Period
- Post-2023 gallery representation: Contact galleries. Pre-2023: $20,000-$189,000 at auction
- Auction History
- Date
- May 2022
- Work
- This Will Always be Beneath Us
- Year
- 2022
- Liquidity
- Limited secondary market - approximately 8-12 lots annually at major houses
- Market Entry
- Works began appearing at major auction houses from 2021 onwards
- Auction House
- Sotheby's New York
- Highest Price
- $189,000 USD
- Price Trajectory
- Rapid ascent from 2021-2022, stabilizing 2023-2024 with strong institutional acquisition period
- Total Lots Tracked
- 22+ works at auction
- Recent Auction Results 2023 2025
Work Date Auction House Estimate Realized Ritz (2018) November 2023 Phillips New York $40,000-60,000 $133,350 Pieta (2018) May 2023 Phillips New York $30,000-40,000 $120,650 Coil Comprehension (2018) March 2024 Phillips London £10,000-15,000 £20,320 YTBT (2018) May 2024 Phillips New York $50,800 Simper II (2016) September 2024 Phillips New York $27,940 Crimsons (2022) November 2024 Christie's —
Institutional Presence
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA Boston)
Boston, MA, USAFondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Turin, ItalyPinakothek der Moderne
Munich, GermanyKistefos Museum
Jevnaker, NorwayStavanger Art Museum
Stavanger, NorwayMUDAM Luxembourg - Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
Luxembourg City, LuxembourgICA Miami
Miami, FL, USAColumbus Museum of Art
Columbus, OH, USAX Museum
Beijing, ChinaPond Society
Shanghai, ChinaPhilara Collection
Düsseldorf, GermanyAïshti Foundation
Beirut, LebanonMusée des beaux-arts de Montréal
Montréal, Canada- Exhibitions
- Biennials and Fairs
Year Event 2019 16th Istanbul Biennale 2024 15th Gwangju Biennale 2024-2025 FOG Design + Art, San Francisco 2025 Frieze Los Angeles - Upcoming Exhibitions
Year Dates Venue 2025-2026 November 21, 2025 - May 3, 2026 Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw 2025 February 2025 Frieze Los Angeles - Major Group Exhibitions
Year Venue Location 2021 New Museum New York, NY 2024 15th Gwangju Biennale Gwangju, South Korea 2019 — Istanbul, Turkey 2022 ICA Boston Boston, MA 2022 Palazzo Bollani Venice, Italy 2021 Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Stuttgart, Germany 2021 Jeffrey Deitch Gallery Los Angeles, CA 2021 Columbus Museum of Art Columbus, OH 2019 MoMA Warsaw Warsaw, Poland 2019 Australian Center for Contemporary Art Melbourne, Australia 2019 Palais de Tokyo Paris, France 2022 David Zwirner New York - Solo Institutional Exhibitions
Year Venue Location Exhibition 2023 Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Turin, Italy Antipoem 2023 Stavanger Art Museum Norway — 2021 MAC Belfast (Metropolitan Arts Centre) Belfast, UK UnTurning 2021 Pond Society Shanghai, China — 2019 MoCO (Montpellier Contemporain) Montpellier, France — 2025 Hauser & Wirth New York Darkling 2025 Company Gallery New York One Thousand Emotions
- Museum Collections
- Curatorial Interest
- High - featured in major biennials, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, Margot Norton, Jamillah James. Described by Bourriaud as not representing 'bodies, but the circumstances of their disappearance into the fluidity of the world.'
- Awards and Recognition
Year Award 2016 Joseph Plaskett Award in Painting 2017 19th Annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition - Winner — —
Career & Biography
- Career
- Identity
- Current Location
- New York, NY (also maintains connections to Mexico City and Berlin)
- Artistic Context
- Works through 'painterly catachresis' - deliberately deploying imagery incorrectly to create irrational pictorial space. Uses erasure (often with electric sander) as integral to process. Explores the frontier where 'things become impossible, either figuratively or spatially, but which still register in a way that makes formal sense.'
Artistic Profile
- Evolution
- Progression from single isolated porcelain figures to complex multi-figure compositions; from intimate scale to monumental works; from glossy impermeable surfaces to fluid, dissolving forms; increasing complexity of layering and erasure; growing engagement with apocalyptic and environmental themes
- Influences
- Historical: Goya, Bosch, Bruegel, Courbet, Ingres, Velázquez, El Greco, Fuseli, Italian Renaissance, Netherlandish Baroque, Spanish Baroque
- Modern: Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy
- Literary/Philosophical: Georges Bataille, Simone Weil, William Blake, Julia Kristeva, Sappho (via Anne Carson), Silvia Federici
- Themes and Subjects
- Key Themes and Subjects
- Amorphous, ambiguously gendered bodies in intimate/erotic scenariosHuman-animal metamorphosisSkeletal forms and death imageryFloral and botanical elementsPorcelain-like translucent bodiesInterior spaces (beds, bathtubs, still lifes)Nocturnal landscapesClimate catastrophe and Anthropocene imageryHistorical and mythological references (Minotaur, Medea, etc.)
- Movements and Periods
- Distinctive Style Markers
- Translucent, clay-like bodies with 'liquid skin' effectPale pink/flesh tones against dark or chromatic backgroundsAmbiguous anatomical morphing where bodies blend into each otherVisible underpainting and erasure marksTechnical virtuosity combined with deliberate 'incorrectness'Simultaneous beauty and disquietNon-hierarchical composition
- Techniques and Mediums
- Wet-on-wet oil painting with multiple layersErasure with electric sanderCollage elements (flower collage, raw canvas cutouts)Underpainting and palimpsest effectsPastel and mixed mediaTrompe l'oeil effects (porcelain reflections)Liquid brushstrokes creating 'liquid skin' effectIrrational pictorial spaceFigure-ground disruption
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Critical Consensus
- Themes
- Female desire and eroticism from feminist perspectiveMetamorphosis and transformationVulnerability and collectivityNon-binary identities and gender fluidityViolence and tendernessHuman-animal hybridityErasure and archaeological layeringClimate catastrophe and apocalyptic imagery
- Strengths
- Technical virtuosity with oil painting reminiscent of Renaissance and Baroque masters
- Sophisticated engagement with art historical canon (Goya, Bosch, Bruegel, Courbet, Ingres, Fuseli, Bacon, Kahlo)
- Innovative approach to queer figuration and non-binary representation
- Unique 'painterly catachresis' methodology
- Ability to create ambiguous, fluid spaces challenging gender binaries
- Mastery of color blending and liquid skin effects
- Comparisons
- Georges Bataille, Simone Weil, William Blake, Julia Kristeva (literary); Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo, Gustave Courbet, Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Fuseli, 19th-century Romantic painting (visual)
- Key Critical Voices
Name Role Nicolas Bourriaud Curator and critic Sonja-Maria Borstner Curator Jessica Caroline Poet
- Publications and Media
- Major Publications and Reviews
Title Year Note Author Publication — 2020 Discussed fluid brushstrokes and 'contested terrain' of non-binary identities Sonja-Maria Borstner Frieze — 2020 — — e-flux Criticism Liquid skin, blurred lines: how Ambera Wellmann creates startlingly intimate scenes 2021 — Coco Romack Art Basel — 2019 Featured 'Ritz' as Image of the Day — Elephant Magazine The Hellbound Heart: Monstrous plasticity in the work of Ambera Wellmann 2024 — Natalia Sielewicz CURA Magazine Ambera Wellmann's Big Swing 2020 — Kristian Vistrup Madsen Momus Ambera Wellmann: Darkling—One Thousand Emotions 2025 — — Contemporary Art Issue (CAI) — 2025 Review of dual exhibitions — The Brooklyn Rail Ambera Wellmann Delivers on the Hype With a Two-Gallery Banger 2025 — Johanna Fateman Cultured Magazine — 2023 Coverage of Hauser & Wirth representation announcement — Artsy — 2023 Coverage of 'Collective Impact' collaboration — ARTnews
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
Year Fair 2024 FOG Design + Art 2025 Frieze Los Angeles - Representation
- Gallery Statements
- Hauser Wirth
- Marc Payot: 'Ambera possesses a remarkable combination of skills—she is an astonishing technician, expert in the prerogatives and effects of art historical movements—which she deploys to create visual poetry that's both magnetic and unsettling.'
- Company Gallery
- Sophie Morner: 'A joint partnership will be the strongest way to support her career right now.'
- Representation Model
- Hauser & Wirth's 'Collective Impact' initiative - innovative collaboration between blue-chip gallery and smaller gallery with transparent resource sharing. Second artist in this program (first was Uman with Nicola Vassell Gallery)
- Previous Representation
Period Location Gallery 2018-2023 Berlin, Germany Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler 2018 Brussels/Antwerp Office Baroque 2019 Mexico City Lulu
- Geographic Reach
- Works available through both galleries - pricing by request for recent works. High demand with limited availability
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