Doron Langberg, the artist who paints friends and lovers up close and personal
2 min read · 10 Aug 2023
Doron Langberg, Daniel Reading (2019). Copyright the artist. Courtesy of Victoria Miro
Doron Langberg is on the HENI News radar as collectors snap up colorful portraits that celebrate queer identity and intimate moments among friends.
New York-based Doron Langberg’s HENI Score—a unique artist sentiment—has increased an impressive 125% after a string of strong auction sales and a solo museum show in Miami. A museum show in Europe is due to be announced.
An artist’s HENI score amalgamates data such as auction sales, NFT sales, news and social media mentions, gallery shows and museum exhibitions.
Doron Langberg, Drawing Mike (2020). Copyright the artist. Courtesy of Victoria Miro
Market
Sales of Langberg's vibrant, sometimes explicit, often queer portraits have totaled $1.31m over the past two years, an indication of demand for work by the artist who is in his late 30s.
In 2021, his painting Nir and Zach (2018) sold for $423,400 at Phillips London, more than four and half times its upper estimate. It had been traded once in the past.
Recent auction results have been less spectacular. For example, Virginia (2018) sold for $56,300 at Phillips London, within its estimates. It had been traded once in the past.
His works have been priced between $2,500 for a limited edition print to around $80,000 for a canvas on the primary market over the past two years.
The artist is represented by Victoria Miro. The gallery has presented his paintings at major art fairs, including a solo booth at Frieze Los Angeles in 2023.
Shows
In an interview with Cultured magazine, Langberg mentioned a soon-to-be-announce solo show in a European museum, possibly in 2024.
A year-long exhibition of new and recent works by Langberg, featuring several recently acquired by the Rubell family, is on view at the Rubell Museum, Miami, until November 12, 2023.
In 2021-22, Langberg was one of four contemporary artists invited to show their work alongside Old Masters in New York’s Frick Collection show “Living Histories”.
Profile
Born in 1985 in Israel, Langberg moved to the US as a student. He is best known for his portraits, typically of friends, and his explicit “sex paintings”. He also paints wild flowers in signature, vibrant colors, which he describes as his most indulgent works. He also told Cultured magazine: “The stakes are so much higher when it’s an explicit painting. You can make a shitty painting of flowers, but you can’t make a shitty painting of guys fucking.”
More
To get a deeper understanding of Doron Langberg’s career visit his HENI Dashboard; a unique graphical data tool illustrating an artist’s auction sales, shows, profiles, mentions and their HENI Score. You can search for any one of the 100,000 Artist Dashboards to quickly appreciate their trajectory as well as sharing via email, text and WhatsApp.