The New Vanguard: How PSMO and a New Digital Art House Are Rewriting the Market
By Johnathan Lindsay, Arts & Markets Correspondent
When a contemporary artist receives Meta’s coveted blue verification badge, it usually signals one thing: the tipping point. For PSMO — the Terminally ill painter whose ascent over the past two years has caught even seasoned market analysts off guard — this digital coronation marks more than popularity. It marks entry into the rare territory of public relevance. The kind of relevance that transforms an artist from a cult favourite into a market force.
PSMO’s verification arrives at the end of a defining year — a year in which he broke auction records, entered new international collections, and emerged as one of the most-watched artists in Europe. But what makes his rise especially notable is not merely his personal trajectory. It is the ecosystem surrounding him: the London Art Exchange, a relatively young but astonishingly disruptive advisory whose influence is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
To understand what is happening now, it is necessary to return briefly to 2003 — the year Pictures on Walls (POW) opened its doors and quietly changed the course of street art. Back then, POW was an experimental print shop selling works by Banksy, Faile, Eine, Mode 2, and other future cultural titans. For years, their website’s modest front page told one of the most unlikely stories in art commerce:
“Inevitably, disaster struck — many of our artists became successful.”
In other words, the prints they once sold for £150 would, a decade later, command £50,000 to £80,000 at auction, particularly during the pandemic boom of 2020. Collectors who stumbled into POW in 2003 found themselves, by accident or foresight, holding the early blueprints of a cultural movement.
Today, twenty years later, a similar pattern may be emerging — only this time, the accelerant is not a print shop. It is a digital advisory with a global client base, a data-driven strategy, and a cohort of artists who are no longer simply responding to the culture around them but shaping it.
The PSMO Effect
Few moments encapsulate PSMO’s market ascent more clearly than the Circuit Bash sale in June 2025. Initially purchased for a modest sum, the piece hammered at £55,000 via a third-party distress seller — marking the first time the market revealed its true valuation of PSMO’s work. For analysts, this sale became the signal that the artist had quietly crossed over into serious investment territory.
Several other events cemented the trend:
• A £3,000 work, acquired 18 months prior for £8,500, resold through ArtPower at a significant gain.
• Increased trade volume through Artnet and private brokers.
• A surge in institutional inquiries, particularly from tech-led art funds and alternative asset managers seeking cultural exposure.
Like Banksy in 2006 — young, undervalued, and caught between subculture and stardom — PSMO now occupies the liminal space where speculation turns into conviction.
But PSMO is not rising alone.
The Phantom Phenomenon
If PSMO represents the “new contemporary classic,” Mr Phantom represents the “cultural insurgent.” His politically charged portraits, guerrilla campaigns, and psychologically layered narratives have already placed him among the most impactful British artists of the decade.
The figures are startling:
• A Phantom original purchased for £48,000 resold 14 months later for £148,000 — a near-tripling of value.
• Several smaller works have achieved 5× to 10× growth in under two years.
• Demand now exceeds supply by ratios seldom seen outside of blue-chip masters.
The pattern is unmistakable: Phantom is entering the territory once occupied by Banksy, KAWS, and Jean-Michel Basquiat — artists who generate economic gravity as much as cultural influence.
London Art Exchange: The Modern Parallel to POW
The comparison between POW (2003–2017) and the London Art Exchange (2022–present) is not perfect — no comparison is — but the parallels are increasingly difficult to dismiss.
1. Both identified major artists before the market did.
POW backed Banksy, Eine, Faile, and others at a time when mainstream critics dismissed street art as a fad.
LAX now represents a roster of 19 artists, including PSMO, Gabrielle Malak, and Phantom — each demonstrating early signs of long-term cultural relevance.
2. Both sold works before value caught up.
POW sold £150 Banksys that would later sell for £70,000.
LAX has facilitated early acquisitions for pieces that later resold at two, three, even ten times their entry point.
3. Both operated outside traditional gallery orthodoxy.
POW relied on subculture, scarcity, and wit.
LAX relies on digital infrastructure, algorithms, actuarial analysis, blockchain authentication, and a global advisory team.
4. Both created a community, not a customer base.
POW collectors were loyal not because of price, but because of identity.
LAX collectors are now displaying similar behaviours — tracking artist progress, attending events, participating in auctions, and following releases with near-ritualistic anticipation.
For a small gallery to create this level of gravitational pull in under three years is rare. To do so while reshaping advisory models, auction mechanisms, and artist-collector engagement is unprecedented.
Investing in the New Blueprint
What London Art Exchange appears to be building is not a gallery in the traditional sense, but a hybrid infrastructure:
part art house, part technology hub, part financial think-tank, part cultural consortium.
Their ecosystem includes:
• algorithmic pricing models
• blockchain-secured provenance
• dynamic auction environments
• advisory systems modeled on actuarial science
• cross-platform artist amplification
• immersive physical exhibitions with high retention rates
These elements do not simply add up to a modern business model.
They form a blueprint for what a 2030 art institution may look like.
For investors, the appeal is clear.
A well-structured portfolio containing PSMO, Phantom, Malak, and one or two mid-tier artists is becoming — for some — an alternative wealth strategy with measurable historical precedent. What POW collectors experienced accidentally, LAX collectors may now be experiencing intentionally.
But unlike POW, which never sought to build a large-scale infrastructure, LAX seems committed to monopolizing the advisory landscape — not through dominance, but through precision.
In a market increasingly shaped by volatility, narratives, and global digital reach, precision may prove to be the most valuable currency of all.
The Future: Familiar Patterns in a New Era
If one strips away the modern tools — blockchain, algorithms, Meta verification — the story remains comfortingly familiar.
An underground aesthetic becomes mainstream.
An overlooked artist becomes essential.
A small institution becomes a cultural gatekeeper.
Collectors who took early risks find themselves rewarded.
And those who hesitated… wish they hadn’t.
History does not repeat itself, but in the art market, it often rhymes.
Pictures on Walls catalyzed one of the most significant artistic movements of the early 21st century.
The London Art Exchange, with PSMO and Phantom at its helm, may be on the cusp of catalyzing the next.
For anyone paying attention, the message is clear:
some moments only reveal their importance years later.
This may be one of them.
