In less than two years, the colorful, stripe-rich paintings of Anselm Reyle have vaulted him from modest success to six-figure star. The metamorphosis says a lot about the contemporary-art market. Two years ago, you could grab a Reyle painting through his gallery for about $14,000, collectors and dealers say. At auctions in London earlier this month, all six pieces by the 37-year-old German soared past their high estimates, while lots by Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Jean-Michel Basquiat went unsold. A 2006 painting by Reyle (pronounced like Reilly) fetched 240,500 pounds ($489,916) at Sotheby's two weeks ago. A larger, 13-by-9-foot, abstract canvas featuring poured streams of purple, green and black paint, went for 311,700 pounds ($634,956), more than 10 times its presale high estimate at Christie's International. Reyle has caught the eye of French billionaire Francois Pinault and British mega-collector Charles Saatchi. Maria Baibakova, 22, whose father is a former executive of Russian mining company MMC Norilsk Nickel, has been collecting Reyle. So does London-based Amir Shariat, managing director at hedge-fund advisory firm Auctor Capital Partners Ltd. "He is enormously expressive in his style," said Shariat, 36, who bought his first Reyle at Art Basel in 2005 for a price he declines to disclose."He has a strong understanding of postwar art and he manages to reference it very well."Behind the quick run-up in prices lie several factors -- the nature of the artwork itself, high-profile exhibitions, placement in important collections and representation by powerful galleries -- that offer a glimpse into the workings of the overheated contemporary-art market. Seductive Style Reyle, who lives in Berlin, references Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism. He uses silver foil, neon colors, mirrored and chrome surfaces in both painting and sculpture. His style is distinct, seductive. His career received a boost from a solo exhibition at the prestigious Kunsthalle Zurich in early 2006. Yet 13 months ago, Reyle was still far from darling status in the auction market. According to Artnet AG, which tracks auction results, the first Reyle work to come on the block -- a black-and-silver mixed- media on canvas -- fetched 31,200 pounds ($58,867) at Phillips de Pury & Co. in London last October. In March, Reyle was included in a group show at Tate Modern in London, alongside two countrymen, Thomas Scheibitz and Manfred Kuttner. Two months later the artist, who had been represented by Giti Nourbakhsch, joined Contemporary Fine Arts, a powerful gallery in Berlin that represents Georg Baselitz, Chris Ofili and Peter Doig. Pinault in Venice Also in May, a purple foil-in-Plexiglas box sold for $192,000 at Phillips in New York, and Pinault included seven pieces by Reyle in a six-month show from his collection at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice. The works were up when the art world descended on the sinking city for its biennial art extravaganza in June. In the past month, Reyle made a savvy change in dealers in the U.S., moving from Gavin Brown's Enterprise to the blue-chip stable of Larry Gagosian, who represents the largest number of star artists, including Warhol, Hirst and Richard Serra. "The market tends to take a lot of security in Gagosian's anointment," said New York-based art adviser Mark Fletcher. Then came the London auctions. Fletcher called Reyle's soaring prices a reaction to the stamp of approval by the art world's elite. Pinault topped ArtReview magazine's 2007 list of the 100 most powerful art people. Gagosian came in second and Saatchi seventh. Others, who bought the artist early, see the auction results in London as a mixed blessing. "From the monetary point of view it makes me feel good," Shariat said. On the other hand, it may make future acquisitions financially more prohibitive. He said he was lucky to get a light-and-metal sculpture by Reyle at the Frieze Art Fair in London this month for a "fraction" of the latest auction results."The aim is not to pay crazy prices for young artists."