Africa: The Next Emerging Art Market

I'm sure we've all noted, and I have written here of the terrific rise in the art market that is currently taking place around the world, particularly in India, the Middle East and Russia. All of those areas have rich artistic histories but part of what is driving the rage for art at this time is the explosion of wealth that these nations are all experiencing, traceable in part to the rise of commodities.

A part of the world which has still to catch up in terms of both wealth and therefore the support lavished on its art market, is Africa. Despite legions of committed collectors around the world, Africa still falls behind the rest of the world in terms of widespread wealth creation (just four billionaires) - which means that the major auction houses have yet to develop a real presence, and its artists remain largely undiscovered.

There is reason for hope however: witness the pace with which Russia's fortunes changed in this regard and the correspondingly huge amounts being spent on art there. In the stock market, when a company's producing a great product but is simply too small for the big brokerage houses to bother doing the work to generate accurate earnings estimates, that's usually the investment of the century. And Africa?