Art and luxury are obvious cohorts. How they interact remains a pressing question in this moment of art’s exploding audience. Whether art can still claim to be art once it is domesticated as a luxury good is going to be a challenge as Kenny Schachter perceptively points out:
In the midst of these vicissitudes, in an ever-expanding art market, garnering higher and higher prices at auction (and wider publicity), art is now perceived more as an extension of the luxury goods sector than a specialised form of exalted human creative activity. From very expensive limited edition Jeff Koons tchotchkes, like Dom Pérignon champagne bottle cases, to customised Bamford Rolexes by Marc Quinn, the (queasy) art-driven marketing campaigns are growing at a rapid pace. Granted, everyone has their price, but does Cindy Sherman, winner of a MacArthur Genius Grant, whose photos sell for millions, need to be hawking Louis Vuitton bags on airport billboards? I guess the answer would be a resounding yes.
Uber Art (HUNGER TV)
