A few days ago a friend sent me this article reporting that stock in Sotheby’s dropped in value by over 11% in two days due to concerns that the super-duper rich are now only super rich, and won’t be buying as much art. That is to say, market performance in general  impacts on the art market specifically. Now Todd Gibson, Tyler Green’s stand-in at Modern Art Notes, points out that the art market has been growing too quickly, and was due for a realignment anyway.

This is probably true, but in my opinion, the art market will continue on a long-term upward trend. As China becomes more liberalized, we will see its economy grow substantially, and a new upper-class elite, participating economically and culturally with the Western world, will start buying up more and more art. Similar trends could emerge in India and other countries as well.

But I’m also interested in what the economic situation does to the actual art. There has been concern lately that the overheated art market is leading us to a point where the art follows the money, rather than the other way around. The importance of critics and curators is ebbing as value is determined more by major private collectors than major art institutions. So if these concerns are valid, then perhaps a cooling of the market will lead to more meaningful work as the artists try to create markets rather than following them. It’ll be interesting to watch, in any case.

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