Art world links which caught my eye…

Same Old Same Old

Visual art is in a crisis of relevance. However, I suggest what we really have is a institutional mismanagement problem, not an artistic one.

This essay wonders how we lost the plot, but the critic who wrote it would never admit the real flaws of the Postmodernist art world, because it’s his racket too.

“Contemporary art may now be an empty category, but it’s filled to the brim. An infinity-pool art world, if you will. And you don’t need to be an economist to grasp the basic concept of supply and demand: inverted global warming, with sales having cooled considerably. In December 2024, Sotheby’s announced it was laying off more than a hundred members of its staff—happy holidays to all, and to all a goodbye. Big news in the relatively small world of art; a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of thousands who’ve lost jobs in the tech industry, axed by Google, Amazon, et al. With layoffs, a company claims that it needs to increase productivity—at a gallery, one person may do the work of three—when its actual aim is to raise profit margins and maintain inflated compensation for its CEOs. Where gallery owners once discussed business in terms of the market, they increasingly refer to it as the ‘art industry’—to attract deeper-pocketed investors and clients, possibly? Since when did mega-galleries begin hiring Chief Financial Officers? Since the corporate model took hold. We may wonder, is this a structure to which artists are attracted or repelled? The mere fact that there can be almost no discussion about contemporary art today outside its economic parameters and perversities seems proof enough that it may be nearing the end of the line. Where once galleries were built on vision and personal sensibility—though this continues today at mid-level, with dealers who are art-focused, their programs infinitely more surprising and alive—galleries helmed by ‘industry leaders’ are set on a more pragmatic course: showing primarily what can be promoted and sold. Is the same true for artists? When demand is high and an artist is selling consistently, is their output ramped up for more of the same, with studio assistants humming right along? Unfortunately, the unspoken mantra ‘more, faster’ inevitably leads to the production artist, perhaps the most contemporary of all. And don’t so many look-alike artworks cancel one another out? Contemporary art has become a production line, and not one of happiness.”

Read the full article here: BROOKLYN RAIL – Has Contemporary Art Run Its Course?

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