# Dan Colen artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/dan-colen/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T20:03:57.284Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Common media: Painting, Painted sculpture, Installation, Works on paper and prints, Mixed media, Editions

## About Dan Colen

Dan Colen (born 1979) is an American artist based in New York. His practice crosses painting, sculpture, and installation rather than fitting neatly into a single medium. Public biographical summaries describe graffiti-influenced paintings organized around text, painted sculptures that appropriate everyday or low-cultural material, and installation work. This breadth helps explain why collectors may encounter his name on objects that differ substantially in form and materials: a painting can sit alongside a sculptural, printed, or mixed-media work in the auction record. Library authority data also identifies Colen as an American artist and sculptor, supporting entity matching across catalogues and databases. For appraisal purposes, the artist's identity should be separated from the characteristics of the individual object. Medium, date, dimensions, inscriptions, edition information, provenance, condition, and attribution all matter when comparing a work with documented sales. The available sources support this concise identity profile but do not establish a formal movement label or a complete chronology of named series.

## Common works and media

Collectors may encounter Dan Colen paintings, including graffiti-inspired works involving text; painted sculpture; installations; works on paper and prints; mixed-media objects; and editions. These labels cover materially different works and should not be treated as interchangeable appraisal comparables. The source pack does not provide a catalogue raisonné or a verified chronology of named series, so the medium, dimensions, date, construction, inscriptions, and edition status of each object should be documented before selecting comparison lots.

## Market and appraisal context

Appraisily's collected market page reports 134 matched public auction records, including 85 priced records, across sales dated from 2009 through 2025. That dataset covers a wide observed price range and several categories, so its overall median should not be treated as a prediction for an individual object. Useful comparisons should match the work's medium, scale, date, subject, condition, provenance, attribution, and—where relevant—edition details. Signatures, inscriptions, restoration, exhibition history, and catalogue references may also affect how closely a lot compares. Realized prices should be checked for consistent treatment of buyer premiums and fees. Private transactions, incomplete feeds, and later attribution changes may remain outside the public record.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Public results are a research starting point and may not capture private sales, every fee convention, or later attribution changes.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q507142
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/291149196480374791695/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Colen
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/dan-colen/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2008168754
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/354254