In a recent Wall Street Journal profile of superstar art dealer Larry Gagosian, the author explains that a decade ago, the abstract work of Cecily Brown would only sell for around $8,000. However, all that changed when curators from the Tate and the Museum of Modern Art, at Gagosian’s encouragement, began to buy Brown’s work. Today, Brown’s paintings are sold for around $800,000.
A hundred-fold increase in price may seem staggering, but this is a normal occurrence for Gagosian, who runs a global art empire with over $1 billion in annual sales and approximately 60 shows a year (as a point of comparison, Sotheby’s auctioned off $870 million worth of contemporary art last year). And while the art world is inherently prone to flash over substance, it seems that Gagosian reflects a large segment of the market that has ceased to evaluate aesthetic expression in favor of whatever art is in highest demand—and has the highest price.
I think it’s worth stepping back to evaluate what a prospective buyer should look for when purchasing a work of art. At its core, the art world should be about promoting individuals who help us see the world anew. Objects, colors, and shapes are arranged in such a compelling way that the artist is able to touch his or her audience deeply or cause them to reflect. This is especially true of modern art, which granted painters and sculptors freedom from the traditional limitations of expression.
The profound feeling many people receive standing before the rich tonal paintings of Mark Rothko or the geometrically chaotic works of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso convey exactly this sense. Unsurprisingly, Gagosian controls the estate of Picasso and numerous other groundbreaking artists like Alberto Giacometti, Richard Serra, and Damien Hurst. Yet he also dramatically ratchets up the prices of the works without the same visionary qualities, transferring the artists behind them from modest successes to stratospheric earners with wide renown.
“In the contemporary art market, there is no standard formula for determining what an artist is worth,” the Wall Street Journal noted. “It’s famously difficult to determine which artist will have lasting cultural significance over decades or centuries, and which will be a flash in the pan. This gives top dealers like Mr. Gagosian enormous power to influence and even set the markets for the artists they represent. Anyone who wants his art must pay his prices.”
That may seem obvious, but it reveals the paradox of the commercial world Gagosian inhabits. When working with Gagosian, people are not buying into an artist due to an appreciation of their work so much as they are buying into the hype that Gagosian has built. You get the overwhelming feeling that clients purchasing an $800,000 Cecily Brown abstraction don’t say to their friends, “Look at this magnificent painting” without at least slipping in a passing reference to Gagosian’s blue chip name.
This quality of the modern art world was conveyed especially well in the Exit Through the Gift Shop, a 2010 film directed by cult graffiti artist Banksy. The film follows Thierry Guetta, originally an amateur documenter of the street art scene, as he attempts to create and market his own work based on the unexpected commercial success of his friend Banksy’s street art. Reinventing himself as “Mr. Brainwash,” Guetta mortgages his successful business and hires a team of assistants to produce astonishingly gaudy pieces. The show is promoted using a quote from Banksy and becomes a huge success as millions of dollars of Brainwash art are sold.
One scene shows a wealthy Los Angeles art collector who explains that no modern art collection is complete without street art, a claim that strikes the viewer as ridiculous when the ensuing conversation reveals the woman has no knowledge or appreciation for what she is purchasing.
Like Gagosian’s superstar clients, a large portion of the highest rung in the contemporary art world appears to be part of an elaborate ruse—people trade large sums of money for things they are duped into believing are relevant. And while there is no easy solution to this problem, it begins with addressing a lack of imagination and cultural appreciation among art collectors. Rather than flocking to the likes of Gagosian, the fabulously wealthy would be better off browsing galleries in New York or London and paying a great deal more attention to artists’ expression rather than the price tags hanging from the pieces.
