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art collector
Art auctions have become such unrealistic projections of the quality of the art, that if I ever follow what piece is being sold at what price, it is usually with amusement (or bemusement.) If people are willing to buy Damien Hirsts at million dollar losses, that is, well, their loss.
Of course, I am much more serious about the whole issue, and I'm just trying to find the right vocabulary, and tone, to describe the rather frightening trend that the art world has taken, especially since the latter half of the 20th century.
One of the reasons that I am cautious is that nihilistic or frightening views don't negate talent (and even genius). And many of these artists are genuinely trying to resolve, or introduce, interesting and valid issues. So, I'm trying to be generous.
The article "Agony and Ecstasy: The Art World Explained" discusses Sarah Thornton's book "Seven Days in the Art World". Thornton divides her book into seven chapters, and each chapter deals with different aspects of the contemporary art world (art auctions, art seminars, artists' studios, etc...).
The book will have to wait until later. But what this article mentions and which Thornton doesn't discuss, is that art collectors and "administrators" are heavily Jewish.
Now this shouldn't have anything to do with anything, but the author of the article writes that: "a Turner Prize judge compares art to the Talmud: 'an ongoing, open-ended dialogue that allows multiple points of view.'"
The author goes on to say: "The implicitly Jewish ethos surely feeds into the feeling that the art world is somehow set apart...It also helps explain why the aesthetic of the art world is really an ethic, one that seeks something higher than mere pleasure."
This fits many of the contemporary art that is selling like hotcakes. Damien Hirst, the most successful of all the contemporary artists, for all his mediocre craftsmanship, is really more interested in "dialogue" and "multiple points of view" than in aesthetics, or even visual representation. In his own eccentric (and amoral) way, he is after an ethic.
As I maintain my patience, and silence, and keep digging at the strangeness of modern art, I sometimes come across gems like this, which open up my eyes to the road we've taken to get to where we are now.
Plus, I am always intrigued at the really clever and imaginative ways some contemporary artists present their ideas usually by replacing the visual aspect of their work with a more intellectual one. I don't particularly agree with it, though. And I will have to lay the blame on the Jewish way of "seeing."