Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Has Success Spoiled the Art Market, Pt. 1

December 14, 2012 by Marion Maneker

Julian Stallabrass had a particularly dry-eyed take on the debate over the depredations of the art market in The Art Newspaper a few weeks ago. The comment has only increased in relevance as the art world grapples not with challenging times but with the aftermath of its recent success:

In the boom years for contemporary art, huge numbers of new collectors were drawn in, and the art world lost its Euro-American axis. As it became globalised, its distinct minority culture was eroded. In its stead, celebrity, publicity, branding and the glitzy display of riches came to the fore—vulgarity, if you like.

Second, since the super-rich who buy the most expensive contemporary art have been most immune to the financial crisis, and since they also use art as a hedge against the movement of other investments, the top levels of the market have appeared relatively unaffected. The vulgar business of flaunting consumption goes on, while around it everything has changed.

It is not just that something seems wrong with the art world. All now appears in a strange new light: bankers are reviled, the political elite is revealed as corrupt, and capitalism itself has been stripped of its ideological cloak, standing naked as the engine of rampant debt, inequality and environmental devastation. In that new frame, the picture of the elite continuing to spend their fortunes on vacuous geegaws is bound to look less pleasing than it once did.

A Sad Reflection on the Art World (The Art Newspaper)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Neue Galerie Cleans Up Embarrassing Restitution Issue with Payment to Family of Karl Schmidt-Rotluff OwnerNeue Galerie Cleans Up Embarrassing Restitution Issue with Payment to Family of Karl Schmidt-Rotluff Owner
  • ArtBasel Sales, Pt. 6ArtBasel Sales, Pt. 6
  • China Guardian & Poly Auction Houses See Strong Growth in Weak Chinese MarketChina Guardian & Poly Auction Houses See Strong Growth in Weak Chinese Market
  • ‘Cash for Your Warhol’ Becomes a Physical Meme‘Cash for Your Warhol’ Becomes a Physical Meme
  • Phillips Meets Target For Two Themed Online Sales, Eddie Martinez Leads the PackPhillips Meets Target For Two Themed Online Sales, Eddie Martinez Leads the Pack
  • The Other $200 Million ArtistThe Other $200 Million Artist

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Phillips to Showcase Helen Frankenthaler at Southampton Outpost
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Re-discovered John Constable Painting at Sotheby's in December
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor