(The) Art (Market) Is a (Runaway) Roller Coaster
Posted by: admin in Damien Hirst, Art market decline, NYT arts articles, Commerce and the failure of art, Artistic failure in AmericaA lot of articles have been published in the past few weeks about the fall art auction season, each with conflicting assessments of the state of the current art market. It’s difficult for us non-insiders to know what to think, as one day the news is poor, and the next the news is stunningly good (at least for the auctioneers).
Consider this run-down of recent article-posed questions: Is the market failing, as Sotheby’s stocks fall upon failing to sell out a lot? Is the downturn of the art market a sign of collapse in the economy in general? Is the art market heading for a crash, or is the market as healthy as ever (as sales records continue to mount and Sotheby’s stocks rebound.)
The New York Times auction season-culminating article in the end called the art sales results spotty at best, with traditional and established favorites artists selling at amounts under pre-auction estimates or not selling at all, while cut-rate are by younger artists broke sales records. The article quoted on auction director as admitting; “We bit off more than we can chew…”
Ironically, another recent NYT article described the business-as-usual art-world excess and “over-the-top decadance” (i.e., an exhibition by Damien Hirst that cost more than $1 million to produce) that continued even in the midst of all this market uncertainty and turmoil. The installation, currently running at the Lever House on Park Avenue through February 16, presents formaldehyde-filled tanks with 30 dead sheep, one dead shark, two sides of beef, 300 sausages, and a pair of doves, as well as 15 medicine cabinets filled with bottles with labels for antidepressants, cough medicine, and other drugs.
“It’s my flock,” said Mr. Hirst, at the end of the story.
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