Carl Swanson’s excellent New York Magazine cover story on Jeff Koons contains this succinct and accurate description of what happens in the narrow working space at the apex of the Contemporary art market:

The circle of collectors and dealers is so small and so awash in cash that the process can seem to an outsider a bit like a rigged game, in which a bad deal can be considerably more valuable than a good one. If you buy a giant balloon toy for $30 million, you may have spent a few million more than you had to or even expected to; but you’ve set the value of that work and also elevated the value of all of the balloon toys in your collection. Which is especially good, since there aren’t very many people who can afford to spend $30 million on a giant balloon toy, and those who can tend to take pleasure in cornering a market.

Jeff Koons Is the Most Successful American Artist Since Warhol. So What’s the Art World Got Against Him? (New York Magazine)