The Boston Globe’s ideas blog, Brainiac, is enamored of Noah Horowitz’s The Art of the Deal but they’re worried that art market is a bad thing:

What does the new economic climate mean for the art market? It’s hard to say, of course, but one thing is certain: as things are right now, Horowitz writes, the system is eroding the idea that art “is more than just an empty stepping stone to social, political, and economic enrichment.” The art market depends, ultimately, on trust, both in the idea of art and in the basically artistic motives of the world’s art institutions. The more art dealers resemble speculators, and museum galleries showrooms, the more that trust is undermined.

There is an alternative option, though. It could come to pass that the trust the art market needs to operate effectively comes from more frequent and more visible transactions? Just a thought.

How the Art Market Works (Brainiac/Boston Globe)