In standard poker sets, blue chips have the highest value.
And after a storied visit to the Stock Exchange, a Journalist accidentally coined the phrase "Blue Chip" and over time our culture now recognizes Blue Chip Stocks, Blue Chip Companies, or Blue Chip Art - and they all equal one thing = High Value (and the resultant HIGH VALUE OF RETURN ON INVESTMENT)
The excitement of each year (2019 is already off to an amazing start) can be found in obscure and up and coming artists, who cross the threshold and go on to become bonafide BLUE CHIP ARTISTS.
I always look at each new artists collections and assess what or when or how a piece of theirs can speak to culture in such a way as to hold that possibility. There is nothing more gratifying than both helping an artist on that road, alongside enriching my collectors acquisitions with pieces that go on to become seminal blue chip art.
Some classic Blue Chip artists (Partial List)
Picasso, Pollack, Francis Bacon, Barnett Newman, Fernand Leger, Mark Rothko, Kandinsky, Miro, Giacometti, Brancusi, De Kooning, Basqiuat, Salvidor Dali, Anselm Kiefer, *Glenn Ligo, Henry Moore, Tracy Emin, Tyeb Mehta, Mark Flood, Yoshitomo Nara, Agnes Martin, Takashi Murakami, Lucien Smith, Anish Kapoor, Manjit Bawa, Jan Chobolits, Neo RauchIrma, Stern Albert, Oehlen, Sol Lewitt, Mark Grotjahn, Alberto Burri, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, Jay DeFeo, Alexander Calder, Sigmar Polke, Jeff Koons, *Damien Hirst, *Gerhard Richter, * Jasper Johns, * Robert Motherwell, Christopher Wool, * Kazimir Malevich, Lucio Fontana, *Brice Marden, *Bruce Nauman', *Robert Ryman, *Richard Prince, *David Hammons, *Ed Ruscha, * Martin Kippenberger Helen Frankenthaler Simon HantaiSam FrancisJules Olitski Bernar VenetLarry Rivers Lee Krazner, Eva Hesse, Wilfredo Lam, Botero, & Roberto Matta * Living Blue Chip Artists