Artist Haegue Yang. 2023, HAM ©HAM_Sonja Hyytiäinen. Courtesy Kukje Gallery.
According to the ‘World’s Top 100 Artists’ list announced by the German economic magazine Capital in its Kunstkompass November issue, the German visual artist Gerhard Richter has topped the ranking as the world’s most prominent contemporary artist for 20 years since 2003.
Other artists in the top 10 rankings are American conceptual artist Bruce Nauman, German painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz, German conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel, American artist Cindy Sherman, known for photographic self-portraits, British sculptor Tony Cragg, Icelandic–Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, South African artist William Kentridge, and German painter and sculptor Imi Knoebel.
Among the top 100 artists, there are 72 male artists and 28 female artists. The artist with the most significant increase in the rankings is British installation artist Anish Kapoor and Japanese pop artist and installation artist Yayoi Kusama.
Artist Mire Lee poses in front of “Endless House: Holes and Drips” (2022), the 59th Venice Biennale's ″The Milk of Dreams.″ Courtesy TINA KIM GALLERY.Among South Korean artists, Haegue Yang, an installation artist active in Germany, secured 93rd place following last year. South Korean installation artist Mire Lee, who recently had a solo exhibition at the New Museum in New York, was mentioned as one of the noteworthy artists along with Danish artist Jeppe Hein, British media artist Isaac Julien, Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri, American artist Alex Katz. Meanwhile, Nam June Paik ranked 14th among deceased artists, with Andy Warhol topping the list.
Kunstkompass is a German art database that has been tracking the recognition and success of contemporary artists since 1970. Kunstkompass, first created by journalist Billy Bongard and continued by his wife Linde Rohr-Bongard after he died in 1985, has been published annually in the German economic magazine Capital since Bongard’s death.
The database identifies the world’s top contemporary artists by tracking activities such as exhibitions, awards, and publications that bring recognition to more than 30,000 artists around the globe. The criteria for the Kunstkompass ranking include participation in solo exhibitions at world-renowned international museums and group exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as the Venice Biennale, reviews in leading art magazines, collections in prestigious museums, and prominent awards such as the Turner Prize. The evaluation does not include market sales results, such as auction results.
