THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE VERY BAD
THEORY OF THE MARKET
Jerry Saltz
WELCOME TO THE DISCONNECT OF 2007 SAME AS THE DISCONNECT OF 2006
Painter Charline von Heyl recently described American’s disconnect between the personal and the political this way: “While almost everything in the outer world feels messed-up, our inner lives aren’t altogether messed-up.” The current art world, awash in money and success, is shot through with a similar disconnect. To some, the art market is a self-help movement, a private consumer vortex of dreams, a cash-addled image-addicted drug that makes consumers prowl art capitals for the next paradigm shift. This set seeks out art that looks like things it already knows: anything resembling Warhol, Richter, Koons, Tuymans, Prince and Wool could be good; any male painter in his 30s could be great. To others, the market is just a happy popularity contest, or as New York Times reporter David Carr put it about having his own blog, it’s like “a large yellow Labrador: friendly, fun, not all that bright, but constantly demanding your attention.”
For many, the art market is a communal version of the Primal Scene — a sexed-up site that offers a peek into the bedroom of the creative act. Art advisors and collectors now treat art fairs and auctions like Warhol’s Factory: Places to flaunt junkielike behavior while hoping one’s creative potential might bloom. In this global circus, mega-collectors like Charles Saatchi and François Pinault are the art world’s P.T. Barnums: showmen who have become part of the show — moguls who understand that the market is a medium that can be manipulated. Once upon a time, the market and the scene (clubiness, chicanery and profligacy notwithstanding) were joined and reflected social, political and sexual change. Now the market is only in service of itself. The market is a perfect storm of hocus-pocus, spin and speculation, a combination slave market, trading floor, disco, theater and brothel where an insular ever-growing caste enacts structured rituals in which the codes of consumption and peerage are manipulated in plain sight. (cont.)
http://www.flashartonline.com/OnWeb/THEORY%20OF%20THE%20MARKET.html
