January Gallerist

Meet Fionna Flaherty, partner at international powerhouse Lehmann Maupin. The Gallerist spoke to Flaherty about the trends she’s watching in 2025 and how the gallery maximizes its reach on Artsy.

What are some of the main themes that you’ll be keeping an eye on in the art market this year?

We’re seeing a continued rise in demand for work by women artists within the primary and secondary markets as institutions continue to embrace a revisionist history of the canon. At Lehmann Maupin, we’re very proud that women artists make up nearly 50 percent of the artists on our roster. This includes pioneering artist Cecilia Vicuña, whose first solo exhibition in New York was presented at Lehmann Maupin in 2018, and estates such as Heidi Bucher’s, which we’ve worked with since 2018. We’re also seeing a growing demand for works by Korean artists, such as Do Ho Suh, Lee Bul, and Kim Yun Shin, who all have major moments this year.

How is Lehmann Maupin leveraging its presence on Artsy?

Artsy has been an extremely beneficial tool for cross-promoting our exhibitions around the world. This ensures we reach a new, global audience of collectors and viewers alike. It has also been a useful platform for us to bring new contacts into the gallery, who, ultimately, we hope will collect our artists’ work.

What are some of your expectations for the digital art world in 2025?

For starters, we’ll continue to see galleries and institutions expanding their online presence to reach the next generation of collectors and patrons, who are 100 percent digitally native—so we’ve got to meet them there! To reach these buyers, social media—like Instagram and WeChat—will continue to be front and center, as well as e-commerce platforms that function as a digital space to sell works and educate collectors.

Can you recall a time you made a relationship with a collector via Artsy?

We use Artsy as a cultivation tool, in which collectors submit inquiries on artworks we’ve uploaded. If they’re based in New York, London, or Seoul, we ask them to come by our galleries to keep the conversation going and establish a personal relationship with our sales team and leadership. In the last year, we sold seven artworks to new collectors—all of whom we met on Artsy!