10 Collectible British Artists

Affordable Emin? Olivia Cole advises on the British artists to invest in.

Ten Collectible British Artists To Have On Your Radar

Sophie Barber

Wolfgang and i wish you were here (2024) | © The artist

Barber plays with the naif, and the British seaside is her sandy playground. With the grubby magic of East Sussex’s Shoreditch-on-Sea as her subject, her degree show at Goldsmiths in 2020 drew attention around the world and got New Yorkers interested in St Leonards, Hastings and Camber Sands. alisonjacques.com

Leigh Clarke

Purvishaa & Tangokitty (2023) | © The artist

Based between Margate and RA Schools where he teaches, Clarke is inspired by everything from Hackney Gazette headlines to unfinished crosswords left on trains, ghost-written memoirs and even discarded bingo tickets. As print in all its forms becomes more of a luxury, his meticulous care with the medium becomes more and more covetable. leighclarkeworks.com

Dame Tracey Emin

I’m still beautiful in my mind (2024) | Courtesy of countereditions.com and the artist

The artist jokes that the great paintings she has done since living with a cancer diagnosis in 2020 have ensured she won’t be remembered as ‘some mediocre YBA’. As if. Her recent lithographs made with Counter Editions are a more accessible acquisition. countereditions.com

Annie Kevans

Kate Moss (2023) | © The artist

In 2004, Kevans caught the eye of Charles Saatchi with her degree show. Her muted palette, economy of lines and dreamy faces are instantly recognisable, whether she’s depicting child actors, dictators, presidential mistresses or pop culture icons for Jean Paul Gaultier, who notably commissioned her to depict all of his muses. anniekevans.com

Carla Borel

Michael and Mandana on Lexington Street (2006) | © Carla Borel

As a young woman, Borel and her flâneur’s camera were on the periphery of a Soho scene that seems like a dream, with notorious artists and writers at the bars of The French House, the Colony Room Club and the original Soho House. The resulting Stillsoho series strikes a nerve as Soho gentrifies and changes. carlaborel.co.uk

Nina Mae Fowler

Snails and Oysters (Hedy) (2024) | © The artist courtesy of Cob Gallery

A vast composite drawing by Fowler greets anyone arriving at Sir Ridley Scott’s boardroom in LA, but her work has found audiences the world over. Delicate but visceral, her pencil lines pay tribute to the humanism of cinema. She works with archives and the films of the golden age to find missing narratives that deserve to be seen and told. ninamaefowler.art

Gary Hume

© The artist

It’s easy to forget how strange it was in the 90s and noughties for a contemporary artist to paint. Twenty-five years after representing Britain at Venice Biennale, Hume provided the set for Burberry’s SS25 show, arguably marking a moment the artist (who paints on aluminium in high gloss domestic Dulux) became a British institution. Buy while you can. spruethmagers.com

Thomas J Price

A Place Beyond (2024) | © The artist

Price’s work signifies a quiet revolution in statuary. He presents naturalistic poses of everyday life. Represented by Hauser & Wirth, you can see his beautifully ordinary people in London – at the White Collar Factory, Old Street and outside Hackney Town Hall, where Warm Shores (2022) permanently celebrates local residents from the Windrush generation. thomasjprice.com

Nadav Kander

Rosamund Pike II (2014) | © The artist

The meetings Kander has had with some of the biggest personalities of our time cross instantly from startling photojournalism to memorable fine art. At the National Portrait Gallery, his hyper-real depiction of the King jumps off of the wall like history in the making, and his portraits of Obama are modern classics. Born in Tel Aviv, Kander grew up in Johannesburg and is represented by Flowers Gallery in London, his adopted home since 1985. nadavkander.com

Osman Yousefzada

When will we be good
enough? #4 | Steve Russell Studio Ltd, courtesy of the artist

Yousefzada’s The Go-Between: A Portrait of Growing Up Between Different Worlds is a moving account of coming of age in Birmingham in the 80s in a Pakistani-Afghan community. The multi-disciplinary star has moved worlds once more, from fashion to art, inspired by his family’s immigrant stories. Powerful new work can currently be seen at The Box in Plymouth. osmanstudio.com