The Top-Selling Living Artists in New Zealand
The 20 biggest names by sales value at auction
Lists of top-selling artists are usually dominated by the dead. Their bodies of work are fixed, their reputations are more settled, and the market has had time to decide which names matter most. That helps explain why the highest prices so often go to familiar names such as Goldie, McCahon, Binney, Hammond, Hodgkins and Angus.
Living artists are different. They are still making work, still building their careers, and still shaping how they will be understood in New Zealand art history. Below are the top 20 living artists by auction sales over the last five years (2021 to 2025).
Of course, this is a measure of secondary-market sales, not a verdict on artistic importance, but it does show where demand and money have been concentrated.
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#20 - #11 Ranking
First, as a lead in to the top 10, here are the artists ranked 20 to 11 by sales value at auction. One particular standout is Brent Wong at #12, whose place on the list comes from just 16 works sold. Nigel Brown gets there very differently. His highest price is only $32,000, but with more than 150 works sold over the last 5 years, that volume adds up. Also significant is Ann Robinson’s place in the top 20, demonstrating high demand from collectors for her glass works.
#20 Nigel Brown - Sales: $852,000 | Highest Price: $32,000 | Lots Sold: 153
#19 Stephen Bambury - Sales: $870,000 | Highest Price: $72,000 | Lots Sold: 44
#18 Raymond Ching - Sales: $930,000 | Highest Price: $176,000 | Lots Sold: 70
#17 Terry Stringer - Sales: $1,078,000 | Highest Price: $79,000 | Lots Sold: 102
#16 Seraphine Pick - Sales: $1,119,387 | Highest Price: $263,000 | Lots Sold: 73
#15 Andrew McLeod - Sales: $1,184,000 | Highest Price: $133,000 | Lots Sold: 53
#14 Ann Robinson - Sales: $1,249,504 | Highest Price: $91,388 | Lots Sold: 50
#13 Peter Stichbury - Sales: $1,325,000 | Highest Price: $255,000 | Lots Sold: 45
#12 Brent Wong - Sales: $1,513,000 | Highest Price: $472,000 | Lots Sold: 16
#11 Richard Killeen - Sales: $1,545,000 | Highest Price: $95,000 | Lots Sold: 174
Now, let’s look at the top 10 in more detail…
#10 Dick Frizzell
Total sales value: $1,615,000 | Highest Price: $134,540 | Lots Sold: 295
Works sold in excess of $100k: 1
Dick Frizzell is probably best recognised for his mix of Kiwi imagery and pop culture with his four square man and tiki works. But his work is broader than that, cutting across landscapes, art history references, baking recipes, and domestic scenes. The top end is not as deep as some others here, but the breadth of his screenprints alongside continuing demand, is what keeps his total so high.
#9 Grahame Sydney
Total sales value: $2,016,000 | Highest Price: $257,000 | Lots Sold: 95
Works sold in excess of $100k: 8
Grahame Sydney has made Central Otago unmistakably his own, and the market likes clarity. Buyers know what they are getting: hard light, empty roads, weathered buildings and a very particular sense of place. Eight works selling above $100,000 tell you collectors will pay up for his best works.
#8 Robin White
Total sales value: $2,504,000 | Highest Price: $406,300 | Lots Sold: 114
Works sold in excess of $100k: 6
Robin White’s work has stayed relevant across different generations of collectors. Her landscapes are bold and contemporary, while her works capturing ordinary people in ordinary places are distinctively hers. Her Pacific work has widened her appeal to collectors further. She does not need huge numbers of works at auction to perform well (though her print market has certainly helped). Every time one of her oil paintings has come to market in the last 5 years, they have been snapped up, always selling for over $100,000.
#7 Shane Cotton
Total sales value: $2,799,000 | Highest Price: $616,000 | Lots Sold: 91
Works sold in excess of $100k: 7
Shane Cotton has the highest price achieved for a painting by a living artist for Kaua E Raweke I Te Manu that sold for over $600,000 from the collection for Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham (though Michael Parekowhai’s piano sold for more). That sale, along with another 6 works that sold for over $100,000 each, propel Cotton into the top 10. But perhaps what makes his position all the more remarkable is the difficulty in pinning down his style unlike other artists in this list. Cotton’s works have evolved and that has created depth that collector’s have engaged with.
#6 Max Gimblett
Total sales value: $2,938,000 | Highest Price: $157,000 | Lots Sold: 349
Works sold in excess of $100k: 2
The number of Max Gimblett works is amongst the highest at auction, solely because of his Remembrance works that contributed around 250 works sold and $400,000 in sales. But interestingly, it has very little significance in achieving his place in the top 10 living artists (he would just swap places with Shane Cotton). Instead, it’s the consistency in establishing a buyer base that is willing to continuously pay 5 figure amounts for his distinctive quatrefoils.
#5 Karl Maughan
Total sales value: $3,063,000 | Highest Price: $191,305 | Lots Sold: 103
Works sold in excess of $100k: 4
Karl Maughan is one of the easier artists on this list for the market to read. The garden paintings are polished, distinctive and easy to recognise, which makes them attractive to buyers looking for contemporary works that still feel accessible. Art & Object set a new auction high for his work in 2025.
#4 Gretchen Albrecht
Total sales value: $3,161,000 | Highest Price: $198,000 | Lots Sold: 116
Works sold in excess of $100k: 6
Gretchen Albrecht’s results look like a real market, not a spiky one. There is no single outlier doing all the work; instead, strong prices keep turning up across multiple sales. That kind of repeat performance matters because it suggests lasting demand rather than a short burst of excitement.
Gretchen Albrecht’s results suggest depth rather than dependence on one headline sale. There is no single outlier carrying the total. Instead, strong prices keep appearing across different sales. That matters, because it points to steady demand rather than a brief burst of excitement.
#3 Fiona Pardington
Total sales value: $4,161,000 | Highest Price: $133,000 | Lots Sold: 172
Works sold in excess of $100k: 2
Fiona Pardington is one of the most striking names on this list. Photography rarely produces totals like this in New Zealand, yet collectors keep paying strongly for her bird photographs, especially the works of huia and the diptychs of native bird with their wings spread for flight. What makes the number even more impressive is that it has been built without one blockbuster result doing most of the lifting.
#2 Michael Parekowhai
Total sales value: $5,045,000 | Highest Price: $2,051,900 | Lots Sold: 76
Works sold in excess of $100k: 5
Michael Parekowhai’s, A peak in Darien, that sold for more than $2 million would be enough alone to earn him a place in the top 10. An additional 21 sales is all that it takes for Parekowhai to secure his number two placing, demonstrating that his market is driven by by major works, not regular traffic.
#1 Michael Smither
Total sales value: $5,949,000 | Highest Price: $517,000 | Lots Sold: 615
Works sold in excess of $100k: 16
Michael Smither achieves the top spot through a combination of high volume prints at affordable prices and high quality works selling for serious money. Few artists have such a busy secondary market, and even fewer combine that with so many six-figure results. His iconic depiction of rocks and stones as well as the domestic life of his family have made him one of the most recognisable names in New Zealand art.
Final Thoughts
In some ways, many of the names on this list are no surprise. They are well-established artists, often late in their careers, and familiar to collectors across New Zealand. What I like, though, is the breadth of it. The list includes photography (Pardington), decorative arts (Robinson), and sculpture (Parekowhai and Stringer), alongside painting in many different forms. It also spans a wide range of subjects and styles, from landscapes, birds and portraiture to abstraction, symbolism and surrealism. Taken together, it is a strong reflection of the depth and variety of art still being made in New Zealand.