His gallerist Lam attributed Doodle Man’s appeal in the region to “ Asia’s strong figurine culture and obsession with cuteness”. Much is made about the parallels in Cox’s rise with other international art market favourites such as Takashi Murakami and KAWS who made it big in Asia and are known for their similarly adorable, pop-centric visuals. Image courtesy of the artist and Pearl Lam Galleries.Ĭox has also collaborated with fashion label Fendi, sportswear giant Puma, MTV Europe Music Awards and created a major mural at Wembley Park. From the new Pop Heart Collection of limited-edition screenprints, 60 x 60 cm: Pop Heart – Flower Warmth, 2021 Pop Heart – Puppy Love, 2021. On 14 August, Pearl Lam Galleries is released Limited Edition Colour Prints and Collector Box Editions of his new Pop Heart collection, featuring heart shaped doodles in nine different colours, inspired by his wife Mrs Doodle. That same month, two of Mr Doodle’s artworks made an appearance at Pearl Lam Galleries’ booth at Art Basel Hong Kong, following the announcement in April that the gallery would have worldwide representation of the artist. Comprising one or more of the panels from a trailer he covered with cartoon illustrations in 2015, the 27 lots brought in sales close to US$720,000, excluding buyer’s premium. This year in May, Christie’s jumped on the bandwagon with a dedicated auction of Doodle Man’s works, “Caravan Chaos”.

Image courtesy of the artist and Pearl Lam Galleries. Installation view of “Mr Doodle Invades Sotheby’s” at Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019. He is even ranked the year’s fifth biggest auction success under 40 by Artnet.

Over the course of the year, 158 Mr Doodle works were sold at public auction, with sales amounting to almost US$4.7 million. Then the pandemic hit and August 2020 saw Cox’s black inked doodles against an incandescent green background titled Spring (2019) sell for almost US$1 million at the Tokyo Chuo Auction.

The sale was also promoted with a “live doodling event” in the city. The 52 new artworks cheekily took on historically recognised masterworks with titles such as Starry Doodle, Doodle Gothic, and The Doodle Girls of Avignon. According to Cox, it was this show that incited interest in collectors regarding his art.ĭuring December of the following year, a solo selling exhibition titled “Mr Doodle Invades” at Sotheby’s Hong Kong was completely sold out, at prices ranging from US$6,400 to US$25,640 per piece. There was also a Samsung branded activation. That year, in July, the artist had a solo show titled “Doodle World” at the Ara Art Center in Seoul, displaying canvases filled with international tourist sites, world leaders and instantly recognisable art such as the Mona Lisa, visually captured through his characteristic “graffiti spaghetti”. Installation view of “DoodleWorld” at Ara Art Center, Seoul, 2018. Yet, in the Asian art world, the artist and his infinitely sprawling black squiggles featuring a whole host of anthropomorphic creatures and objects with little satirical social commentary, have been familiar since around 2015 with interest peaking from 2018 onwards. Otherwise known as Sam Cox, the millennial British artist had “ never graced the wall of a New York gallery, blue chip art fair booth, or major Western museum programme” before May 2021. The answers could possibly lie in the phenomenon that is Mr Doodle (aka the Doodle Man). With all the hype about the Asian art market and its growing base of young art collectors, there is increasing global interest in what appeals to this part of the art world.

Doodle monster mural