I have been finishing off an article about the economic recession and its impact on New York’s art world. In the course of my research I’ve conducted a number of fascinating interviews and one galleryist told me that he felt that the critical establishment would garner more importance as a result of the downturn. Then curiously the next day I asked a longtime critic/friend if she thought that was true and she said something that really got me thinking:
“I think it’s optimistic to think that critics influence what people collect. Collectors are on the boards of museums and that has a lot of influence.”
This is why normal people don’t get contemporary art. Because it has nothing to do with merit and everything to do with investment.
The YBA scene is a perfect example. Saatchi and theTurner prize judges snap up graduate work from Goldsmiths for basically nothing and then use their influence to increase its value.