"Notwithstanding the recession, art-worlders insist smart people still pay good money for great art. (Really? Smart? Hirst?)
The current art world, in the form of art fairs like Frieze, as well as the ubiquitous biennials and other festivals, is without debate succeeding at something now. It's succeeding at providing relatively cheap forms of mild distraction for ever-larger masses of fashion-conscious people whose budgets cover dinner at PizzaExpress, but not works of art.He hems and haws a bit there, but he's got a dozen editors and Sulzberger Jr. looking over his shoulder.
...the art world, having become almost entirely an extension of the fashion and entertainment industries, offers its own version of bygone Hollywood's outlandish riches and loopy entertainment. Instead of Esther Williams, it's Jeff Koons. Instead of Tarzan, there's Olafur Eliasson.
If this were all that art produced, the era's legacy would look dire. But it would also be grim to contemplate the arts being serious and important all the time."
"Culture of Recession? Or Vice Versa?"
by Michael Kimmelman
The New York Times, December 16, 2010
