Bright young artists share how they splashed the cash after the price of their work rocketed... only for their careers to take a sudden and unpleasant turn

A number of young artists have revealed how a sudden surge in their work's market value, followed by a dramatic slump, has led them to suffer financial setbacks. 

The art market has been experiencing a downturn in the last few years, with the decline hitting young artists in particular. 

During the pandemic, a boom pushed by the belief in quick returns caused collectors to spend $712 million on works by artists born after 1974. 

According to the New York Times, that was a giant increase on the $259 million spent on the same type of artists a year earlier. 

With that sudden and dramatic surge, the price for these artists, now known in the industry as 'ultra-contemporary', plummeted by almost a third. 

Amani Lewis hosted shows in Paris and Miami, using her new found wealth to buy a Tesla and fund a new art studio

'Into the Valley, the Boy Walks (Psalms 23:4)' by Lewis is seen here. The painting sold for $107,100 in 2021 before then reappearing at auction in June and selling for $10,080

One of those hit by this unfortunate drop was Amani Lewis, who shot to fame after selling her painting 'Into the Valley, the Boy Walks (Psalms 23:4)' for $107,100 in 2021.

The piece went for over double its estimate, with two other works tripling expectations and a collector paying $150,000 for pieces straight from her studio. 

With the rise in popularity came shows in Paris and Miami, which saw her upgrade to a new art studio and buy a Tesla. 

Despite the sudden surge in market value, the painting has since re-emerged at auction in June, selling for $10,080 - 90 percent of its value. 

The sale forced Lewis to stop renting a $7,000-a-month luxury apartment in Miami and move in with her brother temporarily.

Speaking with the Times, the 29-year-old said: 'It was such a nice high and then it drops. It feels like, "We’re done with Amani Lewis."'

She added: 'There are things I should have done with the money I made to protect myself from the current situation but I didn’t.

'I’ve lived in cars, I come from the hood', before admitting that 2023, when the bubble burst, was 'the hardest year of my life'

Isshaq Ismail had seen his Cubist-style potraits sell for around $360,000 dollars, but the amounts now being paid struggle to hit $20,000

That same year, a collector had messaged her saying he was 'agonizing' over whether to sell on her paintings.

In a text seen by the outlet, it said: 'I moved to a 120-year-old house that has some expensive issues and your painting is one of the few sellable things I own.'

Lewis replied to him: 'If you want to renovate, take out a loan bro', with the work selling for $10,000 with fees - $2,500 more what was originally paid. 

While Ghanaian artist Emmanuel Taku had a painting of his dubbed 'Sisters in Pink' sell for $189,000 in 2021. 

Much like Lewis, Taku watched the price plummet after it went to auction in March and sold for $10,160. 

Meanwhile a number Cubist-style portraits by Isshaq Ismail sold for around $367,000 two years ago, but are failing to sell for even close to $20,000 now.

Ismail said he regretted selling up to five works at a time to art advisers and collectors who moved them on quickly. 

He told the outlet: 'Everyone wants a piece of the cake', adding that buyers contacted him through email or Instagram - making it hard to differentiate.

Ghanaian artist Emmanuel Taku had a painting of his dubbed 'Sisters in Pink', seen here, sell for $189,000 in 2021

Emmanuel Taku, seen here, is reportedly planning a way to come back and has clamped down on sales

Brooklyn based artist Allison Zuckerman has also felt the market's sharp decline, with her painting 'Woman With Her Pet' selling for $212,500 three years ago. 

In June, the painting went back up for grabs and sold for only $20,160 at auction again demonstrating the volatile market. 

Zuckerman was 27 and working out of her cramped apartment in the New York borough when mega-collectors came knocking at her door. 

Since 2021 her work has sold at auction 50 times, with Zuckerman telling the Times: 'It feels very out of body'.

She added: 'Everything that went into that painting, the discoveries, resolving that one corner, that brushstroke that really brought the whole thing together, isn’t what’s being talked about.'

Despite the price drop for 'Woman With Her Pet', Zuckerman added that most of her paintings at a solo exhibition in June sold for $35,000 to $65,000. 

Zuckerman said she wished she had been taught how to run a business, adding: 'Grad school for me was about finding my voice. I wish I had taken a business course.'

'Woman With Her Pet', seen here, sold for $212,500 three years ago before selling for only $20,160 in June

Zuckerman, seen here, was 27 and working out of her cramped apartment in the New York borough when mega-collectors came knocking at her door

Now using her experience of the market, she said she is planning a series of paintings around her closing control of her work.

Laurent Mercier, an art dealer who represents Emmanuel Taku, told the Times that what happened to Taku was 'very sad and crazy'. 

Mercier said his paintings had nearly 500 wait-listed buyers and promised museum donations that would improve Taku's reputation. 

In the next few years his works flooded the market and outstripped any sort of demand, causing prices to collapse.

According to Mercier, him and Taku are now attempting to clamp down on sales to build back demand and 'clean up the mess'.

He said: 'People don’t want to miss out and in the end will overpay. Then the pendulum swings the other way and even at too-cheap prices, few want to get in.'

Experts believe that the downward trend is continuing, with sales of work by young artists falling 39 percent over the last year. 

Collectors had overestimated the market's strength and over fear of the work becoming impossible to sell have sold to at least make some of the money back. 

Record high prices in 2021 caused an increase in sellers which flooded the already fragile market. 

Artists' prices were subsequently raised but in some cases overshot the mark, which discouraged buyers. 

A dealer raised Lewis's prices in 2022, with the artist's exhibition failing to sell out, which only added to the strain. 

Loring Randolph, director of the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Collection of art in Dallas, told the outlet: 'When the prices inflate that much, everyone gets really excited, and people tend to make a lot of mistakes.'

Randolph said that buyers who felt they overpaid are now 'really pulling back'.

While Georgina Adam, the author of two books on the contemporary art market, said that changes in taste previously dictated the rise of fall artists, but now the cycles are shorter, which she believes is fueled by speculation. 

According to the Times, more than a third of the buyers at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in 2021 were new clients. 

Adam added that they may have been more interested in being able to turn a profit than actually becoming lifelong patrons.