Looking for Fairness in the Age of Art Fairs

Charlie Finch offers a succinct look at one of the uglier realities of the contemporary art market in his latest artnet.com post. I have to confess to having had to read it three times to see how his argument was pieced together, but eventually I think I got it.

Essentially he's focused on the way hedge-fund-type collecting (large holdings by one collector of one artist's work that permits manipulation of prices outside the normal, more transparent, market model, and usually results in flipping the work for profit at the expense of everyone else concerned) has created two distinct markets:

Why are works by Marlene Dumas worth millions and those by the stylistically similar Chuck Connelly worth next to nothing? Because surplus capital in the hands of a small group of moneyed types decrees it so, by fiat. Disparities between surplus capital and "normal" market behavior...create two distinct "markets." The high-end market just described is the seeking of surplus capital for true value, which lands on a work of art, because that work of art is perceived as unique, often in a highly arbitrary manner that disregards questions of esthetics and connoisseurship.

I think Charlie offers a good chunk of food for thought there, but I'm not at all convinced this is as new as he seems to suggest. Later he notes:

Nobody wishes to strike gold, because they already have gold: what these collectors want is status and cachet and, let’s face it, more gold. Greed is good. But art suffers in this context, because it functions solely as an economic and social marker, always subject to immediate obsolescence, should economic realities change.

Looking past the first contradictory statement (i.e., that nobody wants new gold, because they already have it, but "let's face it," they want more gold), I feel that Charlie's insistence that "art suffers" when it functions as "an economic and social marker" ignores art history. In fact, I'd say the opposite is true. Art thrives when it functions as an economic and social marker. As do artists. That very function is what helped artists rise from "mere" guildsmen to celebrities during the Renaissance. Moreover, that very function today has made it possible for contemporary artists to find more of the sort of budgets for projects that were previously only granted them by the limited numbers of kings and popes.

What I think Charlie means by "suffers" here is that the opportunities for talented, yet not-selected-by-the-hedge-fund-collectors, artists are not equal to the opportunities for the blessed few hand-picked "stars" (surely the work of each hasn't been altered by the choice...history can still swap their respective statuses...the latter simply won't get rich from their art in their 30s). Indeed, his argument seems to boil down to the idea that if there was not as much money in the market, and artists were elevated to celebrity status based on the praise of critics (like Mr. Finch, for example) instead of less-educated collectors, then all would be right with the art market.

I'm not sure I agree.

I do agree the current state of things isn't fair to "stylistically similar" artists, but the notion that it ever has been fair ignores history as well. Fate has always favored certain folks over others...that's life (critics have their favorites, too). Further, in his article, Charlie notes how "In the 1960s, when Ethel and Robert Scull cornered the market in Pop Art, they were regarded initially as social climbers and soon after as visionaries." Perhaps a few of today's hedge fund manager/collectors will be regarded as visionaries some day as well.

What I think we're seeing isn't some new threat to the world prefered by the pure art lover, but simply a higher concentration of a particular unpleasantness that's always been part of the art world. But, in my opinion, that's balanced out by a higher concentration of working artists, more commercial galleries, more alternative art spaces, more museums, more critics, more art publications, more curators, and more collectors than ever before as well (in other words, the population of the world has more than doubled since the Sculls started collecting...it's shouldn't be unexpected that excess across the board would be the result).

Finally, anyone who cringes to see the latest hedge-fund-created art star get a major exhibition can always turn their attention instead to any number of truly excellent exhibitions at one of the growing number of alternative spaces. Oh, yeah, but if you do that you might miss the caviar at the posh opening.