Kanye West Still Has Impressive High School Drawings: What’s Their Worth?

By Anthony K

Before becoming a renowned cultural and musical figure, Kanye West was an amazing artist in high school in Chicago. On a recent episode of a PBS program known as Antiques Roadshow, Laura Wooley, an art specialist, evaluated five art pieces that Kanye West drew as a Polaris school high school student. The pieces were valued at $16,000 to $23,000. Laura stated that the art attracted her more since perhaps people are not aware of how Kanye can draw. Laura continued to explain that she was amazed by the pieces because they demonstrated the diverse mediums Kanye is working capable of.

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Of the five pieces evaluated, a number of them featured graphite sketches having both realistic and abstract figures, colorful tacky bits, and two pieces of scratchboard that are bordered together as one. An advertisement of Kanye West’s art in 1995 lists that at the time, a black and white print went for $12 while three were priced at $30. On the other hand, color prints went for $15 each and $25 for two. The flyer advertising Kanye West’s art also indicates that in addition to attending Polaris, Kanye, at age four, attended Hyde Park Art Academy. He then joined the Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago State University, where he took classes in art all before his high school graduation.

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Currently, Kanye spends most of his time together with light artist, James Turrell and Claudio Silverstein, designing an expansive compound in Wyoming. This is not the first project he has worked on. He has also worked on others, such as designing the minimalist and futuristic design of his Hidden Hills home, where he worked closely with Belgian tastemaker and designer, Axel Vervoordt.