The National in Abu Dhabi has a nice wrap up of 2008 in art by Hannah Westley. It starts with Anthony d’Offay’s gift (and the tax relief it gave him) and ends with Anthony Caro in France; Bacon’s year-end total; and Freud’s record price. The story is well worth reading in full–but here is the conclusion:

As the credit crunch starts to take its toll, it will be interesting to see whether next year artists will start to address these issues in their work. Will there be a reaction similar to that of the great land artists of the late 1960s and 1970s whose interventions in the landscape were partly intended to defy the limitations of the gallery space and its commodification of art? Perhaps we will see another wave of Arte Povera – the movement of the early 1970s whose works were characterised by the use of extremely inexpensive media. Common materials included sticks, rocks, rope and iron. When the system of art patronage that had kept artists in business throughout the centuries collapsed with the disappearance of the court system in France in the late 19th century, artists had to reinvent themselves in order to stay alive. They went out into the streets and fields to paint straight from nature – and Impressionism was born. Next year could see the start of something exciting indeed.

State of the Art (The National)