Sanford Biggers, the Artist Who Samples Like DJ Premier

Sanford Biggers' HENI Score—a unique artist sentiment index—has surged by an impressive 84% over the past three months. This increase follows strong auction sales and high-profile exhibitions by the LA-born, New York-based artist, who has compared himself to a DJ in the way his works mix cultural references and materials, including pieces of old quilts.

In 2021, Biggers' work Neroluce (2018) sold for $75,600 at Phillips, the highest sale for the artist in the last three years. Over the past two years his auction sales have totaled $111,000. This included Untitled (2017), a fabric piece, which sold for $27,900 at Sotheby's, New York, more than two and a half times its lower estimate.

Biggers' solo show, "Back to the Stars", was presented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago in 2023. It featured signature works addressing historical and cultural themes, made from a variety of materials including antique quilts, birch plywood and gold leaf. He has also worked with video and music as well as created performances alongwith his sculptures, installations and wall pieces.

Biggers’ works in a range of media, including bronze, marble and fabric have been offered for between $65,000 to $350,000 over the past two years.

His works have been presented at major art fairs, including Art Basel in Basel and Expo Chicago, by his dealers: Monique Meloche, Marianne Boesky and Massimo de Carlo.

Biggers’ also works on a monumental scale. Most notably, his 25-feet-tall bronze sculpture, Oracle (2021), which was commissioned by the Art Production Fund. The towering figure is a riff on Greco-Roman sculptures of Zeus mixed with traditional African masks. The work made its debut at the Rockefeller Center in New York in 2021, and subsequently traveled to the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles in 2023.

The Bronx-based artist was profiled by W Magazine to coincide with his Chicago show, a New York exhibition at Marianne Boesky, and the unveiling of two marble sculptures at the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey, all in late 2023. He talked about how he finds the antique quilts that often appear in his work, recalling: “I was speaking in North Carolina once, and a woman drove 90 minutes to gift me a bunch of quilts from her neighbor.”

To keep in touch with Sandford Biggers’ exhibitions and auction sales, follow the artist’s HENI News Dashboard.