tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/art-sales-62745/articlesArt sales – The Conversation2024-03-18T02:48:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254582024-03-18T02:48:35Z2024-03-18T02:48:35ZVanity, money and ‘angry masculine impastos’: Liam Pieper’s Appreciation is a mordant tale of a tragically flawed artist<p>A nuanced exploration of the value and personal cost of art-making runs through Melbourne writer Liam Pieper’s jaunty new satirical novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198119002-appreciation">Appreciation</a>.</p>
<p>Set in the near present, the novel is about Oli – a gay painter from the country who has learned to capitalise on this fact in public appearances – while also reflecting on “toxic masculinity” in a vague, rote-learned way. Oli paints over-sized, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat">Basquiat</a>-inspired paintings, with “angry masculine impastos” and “rough impressionist wheatfields”. They have names in an Aussie battler idiom: “Daffo”, or “Thresher”.</p>
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<p><em>Review: Appreciation – Liam Pieper (Penguin)</em></p>
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<p>In the outer orbit of Oli’s universe lurks a flock of art “appreciators”. They are portrayed by Pieper as more interested in the long-term appreciating value of the works they’re bidding on than their artistic merits.</p>
<p>The struggle for artistic survival is the main conundrum at the heart of this mordant romp. Artists compete for a modest elite of buyers who in turn, despite their tastes (or lack of them), hold the keys to the wealth and enduring relevance of a select few (Oli being one of them).</p>
<p>Appreciation is Pieper’s fourth novel, (he has also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/12/liam-pieper-celebrity-ghost-writer-author-bestselling-book">ghostwritten bestsellers</a>). His first, The Toymaker, a work of historical fiction, won the <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-toymaker-9780143784623">Christina Stead fiction award</a>. His third, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52016160">Sweetness and Light</a>, deals with similar themes to Appreciation, including drug abuse, relationship breakdown, and an examinination of how larger systemic forces underpin personal relationships and the myths we make about ourselves.</p>
<h2>Meeting the artist</h2>
<p>Appreciation opens with a postmodern meta-reflection on the nature of story, before introducing our hero.</p>
<p>Oli has “just enough distinct elements to him”. He is in his early 40s. He drives a Toyota Hilux. He is a little too cavalier about his health, his life, and those around him. He has an incredible tolerance to recreational drugs and alcohol. Despite his recklessness, Oli is good-looking enough that nobody “has ever told him that the story of how he got his tattoo is not interesting”.</p>
<p>As Pieper writes, Oli</p>
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<p>has a way of shuffling into the room like a very old dog, turning his attention on you, and in doing so lighting up your day.</p>
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<p>Yet Oli is painfully conceited. At the start of the novel, he gazes at himself in the mirror, in a scene evoking the Baroque painter Caravaggio’s Narcissus. Like the painting, in which Narcissus is entranced by his own reflection, the novel continues in this self-regarding loop, with Oli embarking on a journey of scrutinising his own image.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-was-narcissus-216353">Who was Narcissus?</a>
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<p>Oli quickly trades his reflection in the mirror for perusing his social media platforms. As he scrolls, he harvests jolts of validation from followers who’ve deluded him into thinking “somewhere out there, he is loved”.</p>
<p>Several pages later, we discover how deep-seated Oli’s insecurities are when – despite his success, wealth and endless baggies (of cocaine) – he confesses his favourite sensation is being watched. Oli has no shortage of unlikable or even ugly qualities. Still, he does not eclipse the unlikability of Ottessa Moshfegh’s unnamed protagonist in My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018), a young woman who tries to chemically sleep for a year.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/my-year-of-rest-and-relaxation-sad-girl-fetishism-or-cuttingly-funny-feminist-satire-188471">My Year of Rest and Relaxation: 'sad-girl' fetishism or 'cuttingly funny' feminist satire?</a>
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<p>There is something to be said for Pieper’s exploration, in this novel, of the value of ugliness in contemporary art and its ability to challenge our existing conceptions of what we consider “good”. However, throughout the work, mentions of Oli’s art and art-making emerge as afterthoughts. This echoes the sense that his rise to fame has been less about his paintings, and more about personal brand-building.</p>
<p>Oli has forfeited so much – and received so much – for his artistic success he can no longer comprehend the true shape of what’s on the easel, or in the mirror before him.</p>
<h2>Irony</h2>
<p>Oli’s world is populated by two kinds of characters. There are those who are profiting off his success and working for him, such as his agent, Anton. And there are those who are trying to profit off his work through “appreciation”, such as buyers or The Paperman: a critic and arts editor of an influential broadsheet newspaper.</p>
<p>Anton, an old drug-dealer-cum-friend, plays a somewhat paternal role in Oli’s life, overseeing nearly all aspects of his livelihood. It is Anton who arranges Oli’s television appearance on a program “beloved by a left-leaning audience for its soothing politics”, which ultimately leads to his downfall.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The cover of Appreciation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581545/original/file-20240313-26-a337ji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
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<p>As Anton coolly reminds Oli before he gets up on stage under the influence, “too many wealthy and powerful people have invested in Oli over the years, and too deeply, to let him fuck it up now”. However, by this point in the narrative the odds are higher than even Oli himself.</p>
<p>Critic Northrop Frye, in his influential work <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/318116.Anatomy_of_Criticism?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Z9hRT5eyrB&rank=1">Anatomy of Criticism</a> (1957), defines satire as “militant irony”. Appreciation is peppered with this irony. Giving a speech at the opening night of a rising artist’s first solo exhibition, Oli unabashedly forgets the artist’s name mid-speech. Later, he circumnavigates the after-party searching for the richest guest to schmooze with, whom he ultimately despises for their wealth.</p>
<p>The resounding absurdity in Appreciation is Oli’s painful lack of self-knowledge and awareness (along with the insalubrious behaviours that sustain his art-making). In turn, Oli’s inability to see people for who they are beyond how they can help him reduces the characters in his world to mere outlines. This way of looking at and perceiving others is filtered through the narration. The art collectors are rendered as all parody, and lack any of the idiosyncrasies that give characters true depth and animation.</p>
<p>In Oli’s head, he has assigned the collectors names like “Baron”, who is scornfully described as a “third generation squatter who had inherited enormous wealth and, with it, limitless reserves of white guilt”. </p>
<p>No character – whether it be artist, critic, buyer, those in favour of identity politics or against – is spared from the sharp strikes of Pieper’s sardonic humour.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-laughing-in-an-echo-chamber-its-time-to-rethink-satire-95867">We're laughing in an echo chamber: it's time to rethink satire</a>
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<h2>Oli’s tragic flaw</h2>
<p>On a live television panel “broadly themed around an ongoing national identity crisis”, Oli is confronted with what <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13270.Poetics">Aristotle describes</a> as <em>hamartia</em> — a tragic character flaw that leads to their own undoing.</p>
<p>When pressed by an audience member as to whether his work is perpetuating the toxic masculinity he claims it tries to subvert, Oli is exposed as a woke-fraud. Then, after a clumsy tirade by Oli, the same audience member poses the possibility that he might, in fact, not be a very good artist.</p>
<p>After the burn of public humiliation, a disgruntled Anton explains to Oli that the only path towards salvaging his tainted image is to perform the demoralising task of writing a memoir – and, of course, going on a tour to regional schools.</p>
<p>Despite the gags and Oli’s overwhelming unlikability, his journey to try to rectify his self-destruction results in a great digging into his psyche and past. As Oli reconstructs windows of early adolescence with the help of a ghost-writer, a deep tenderness is stumbled upon. </p>
<p>As these past episodes are recounted, a meditation on the early formation of Oli’s artistic identity develops. A new type of character, Rio, also enters the story. Rio is different from those who dominate Oli’s emotionally numb, transactional present. He is wholly unique and effectively drawn – a hum of the real reverberating through the novel and bringing with it emotional subtlety.</p>
<p>However, as Frye reminds us, in satire the “sardonic vision is the seamy side of the tragic vision” where the “sublime and the ridiculous” are “convex and concave of the same dark lens”. As with Appreciation, in the echo of laughter are shards of truth and tragedy: what has been lost, exploited or given up in the pursuit of an uncompromising vision.</p>
<p>Appreciation is a literary page turner with no shortage of dramatic flair. The wry and incisive narration is reminiscent of the theatrical work of Oscar Wilde.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgia Phillips does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The novel Appreciation is a literary page-turner with no shortage of dramatic flair.Georgia Phillips, Lecturer, Creative Writing, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1331612020-03-10T19:04:56Z2020-03-10T19:04:56ZTravel bans and event cancellations: how the art market is suffering from coronavirus<p>The recently released <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/about/initiatives/the-art-market">The Art Market 2020</a> report provides a timely insight into how COVID-19-related disruptions are likely to impact growth and sales in the global art market. </p>
<p>The report estimates global art market sales in 2019 were worth US$64.1 billion (A$97 billion), down 5% on 2018.</p>
<p>This drop reflects the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/world-economic-situation-and-prospects-september-2019-briefing-no-130/">decline in global economic growth</a> driven by increasing geopolitical tensions and the trend toward trade protectionism led by the United States.</p>
<p>In 2020, measures to control the spread of coronavirus through government restrictions on travel and large social events are already having a dramatic impact on the international art market. </p>
<p>In the last six weeks, multiple art fairs have announced either <a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/miart-2020-1795875">postponement or cancellation</a>, including Jingart Beijing, Art Basel Hong Kong, Miaart Milan, Art Paris, Art Berlin and Art Dubai. </p>
<p>The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht went ahead, but reported <a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/tefaf-fair-quiet-coronavirus-fears-1795797">a 27% drop</a> in attendance of VIPs at the opening, when many major sales are traditionally made.</p>
<h2>The growing art fair market</h2>
<p>As in previous years, 2019 art market sales were highly concentrated in three major hubs. The United States, the United Kingdom and China collectively accounted for 82% of the total value of sales. </p>
<p>The Art Market report identified a growing shift away from public auctions toward private sales. The overall auction sector (including public auctions and private sales by auction houses, online and offline) represented 42% of total market sales in 2019. </p>
<p>The overall dealer sector (including dealer, gallery and online retail sales) represented 58% of total art market sales in 2019, with the value of sales increasing by 2%. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-australian-art-market-has-flatlined-what-can-be-done-to-revive-it-122932">Friday essay: The Australian art market has flatlined. What can be done to revive it?</a>
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<p>Within this sector, dealers with turnover of more than US$1 million (A$1.5 million) experienced a much larger growth of 20%. These dealers are the fastest-growing sector and the most reliant on art fair sales. </p>
<p>Almost half of all sales in the dealer sector were made at art fairs in 2019, amounting to US$16.5 billion (A$25 billion) – 26% of all sales made in the global art market. </p>
<p>This concentration of sales at the top end of the dealer market is perhaps the art market’s Achilles heel when considering potential fallout from the impending COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>Dealers in this turnover bracket attended twice as many art fairs as smaller dealers, with international fairs (as opposed to local fairs) contributing to more than half their total art fair sales. </p>
<p>For dealers with turnover of more than US$10 million (A$15.1 million), international art fairs represented a staggering 70% of their art fair sales. </p>
<h2>An unwelcome ‘distraction’</h2>
<p>Besides the sales generated at art fairs, dealers have become increasingly dependent on fairs for expanding client lists and developing their businesses. </p>
<p>The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic represents an immediate threat to this business model. One dealer quoted in The Art Market report noted the undesirable impact disruptions from outside the art world can have on art market demand: </p>
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<p>2020 will be a challenging year, but rather than major political dramas having a direct financial impact, their main danger for us is to distract people’s attention. Distractions and anxieties can take people away from buying art, even if the economy is booming and they’re still in a position to spend.</p>
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<p>While this dealer was more likely referring to topical political issues, such as Brexit or trade sanctions, the COVID-19 outbreak has the potential to provide a far greater “distraction” for art buyers. </p>
<p>The impact of COVID-19 on the long-term health of the art market remains to be seen. </p>
<p>Art fairs <a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/art-fair-saturation-1484986">had already been struggling</a> due to multiple economic headwinds in the latter part of 2019, with increasing numbers of retractions and cancellations worldwide. </p>
<p>In 2019, Art Basel Hong Kong featured 242 galleries from 35 countries and was attended by 88,000 visitors over five days. This was a pivotal event on the regional calendar and its loss to the 2020 art market will be sorely felt.</p>
<p>The global footprints and nimble business structures of international auction houses may help these businesses weather this storm, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/arts/christies-sothebys-auctions.html">they have done in the past</a>. But the picture is worrying for commercial galleries. </p>
<p>Artists and galleries <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/australian-galleries-count-cost-as-coronavirus-shutters-hk-art-fair-20200207-p53yts.html">prepare for months</a> in advance of fairs and exhibitions. </p>
<p>In a survey of the <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/behind-closed-doors-how-museums-in-china-are-coping-with-coronavirus">impact of the coronavirus</a> on the art market in China, 73.8% of respondents in the visual arts industry reported their businesses will not survive for longer than three months if the current containment situation continues. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/coronavirus-hong-kong-online-gallery-platform-1794369">Creative initiatives</a> are emerging, such as Art Basel Hong Kong’s online viewing platform. But with uncertainty about how long it will be until this pandemic is under control, the future health of the global art industry is yet to be determined.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Art Market 2020 report reveals the global art market was worth US$64.1 billion in 2019. But with cancelled art fairs in Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin and Dubai, what does 2020 hold for the market?Anita Archer, Research Coordinator, ERCC Research Unit, The University of MelbourneDavid Challis, Postdoctoral researcher and sessional tutor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1229322019-09-26T20:09:09Z2019-09-26T20:09:09ZFriday essay: The Australian art market has flatlined. What can be done to revive it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293998/original/file-20190925-51434-5oxwc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C8%2C2968%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Changes to superannuation legislation have had a cooling effect on arts investment in recent years. Image: An old bee farm (c. 1900) by Clara Southern</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/3021/">National Gallery of Victoria</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the market parlance of boom and bust cycles, the Australian art market has long been leaning towards the latter. Over the past decade, it has performed very poorly. According to <a href="https://www.aasd.com.au/index.cfm/sales-by-year-au/">Australian Art Sales Digest</a>, the combined volume of secondary market sales through Australian auction houses was $107 million in 2018. This amount has remained essentially unchanged for the last ten years and is 39% lower than its apex in 2007. Prices for Australian artwork in the secondary market have followed a very similar pattern. </p>
<p>Commercial art galleries, traditional representatives of artists’ new work, are struggling to counteract declining foot traffic. <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-art-market-is-failing-australian-artists-51314">There are fewer now than there were ten years ago</a>, with <a href="https://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/visual-arts/gina-fairley/why-are-so-many-commercial-galleries-closing-254259">several new closures</a>, such as the landmark Watters Gallery in Sydney, announced in recent years. </p>
<h2>Struggling artists</h2>
<p>This decline in demand has of course resulted in a disheartening reduction in the incomes of many of Australia’s visual artists. Lowensteins Arts Management, accountants to more than 4,000 Australian artists across all creative disciplines, <a href="https://www.lowensteins.com.au/news-resources/blog/tax-reform-australian-artists">has calculated</a> incomes for “established” visual artists decreased by 15% between 2010 and 2017.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293976/original/file-20190925-51463-6j6le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Australian art market has stagnated over the last decade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2OTQxNDExOSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTEzOTcwNzIxNCIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMTM5NzA3MjE0L2h1Z2UuanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJDVGJkUVM4MXBJMERJT1Bvd0VTOWxQOTB1RHMiXQ%2Fshutterstock_1139707214.jpg&pi=41133566&m=1139707214&src=l2SjOHdVvwJrqiifdy_oRg-1-0">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Incomes for “mid-career” artists fell by 4% over the same period. Interestingly, “emerging” artists benefited from a gain of 109% in their incomes - but <a href="https://www.lowensteins.com.au/news-resources/blog/tax-reform-australian-artists">these incomes were very low to start with</a>. </p>
<p>Media commentators and industry operators commonly blame this underperformance on the economic disruptions brought about by the global financial crisis. Certainly, the immediate drop in auction sales experienced in 2008 can be attributed to the loss of wealth and confidence that was endemic across the globe at that time. </p>
<p>However, the recently released <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/news/art-market-report">The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2019</a> shows that art market sales in the United States, the epicentre of the GFC, have increased by 38% in the decade since 2008, with global art market sales increasing by 9% over the same period.</p>
<p>Given Australia’s experience of the GFC was <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook43p/australiachinagfc">less severe</a> than most other industrialised countries, it’s time to start identifying and dealing with the specific factors responsible for declining demand in the local art market and the consequent impact on visual artists’ livelihoods and careers. </p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>Prior to 2011 in Australia, collectable and personal use assets, such as artworks, were cost effective for self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) to own because they could be leased to the fund’s members, stored in their private residence and insured under their house and contents insurance.</p>
<p>Concern SMSF members might be tempted to gain a benefit from these assets before their retirement by displaying them, as opposed to simply storing them, led to the <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/Super/Self-managed-super-funds/Investing/Restrictions-on-investments/Collectables-and-personal-use-assets/">prohibition of this practice</a> in July 2011. </p>
<p>Despite politicians from both sides promising these legislative changes would “<a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansards/2011-02-10/0081/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">not act as a disincentive for SMSFs to invest in Australian art</a>”, the new requirements for collectable assets to be stored offsite and independently insured resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of owning artwork through a SMSF. </p>
<p>The following chart illustrates the impact on SMSF demand for collectable assets. While <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Super-statistics/SMSF/Self-managed-super-fund-quarterly-statistical-report---March-2019/#Assetallocation">SMSF balances</a> have increased from A$395 billion in June 2011 to $715 billion in March 2019, SMSF investments in the collectable asset class have fallen from $713 million to $371 million over the same period. </p>
<p>Before the 2011 changes, SMSFs represented an important component of the demand for local artwork with anecdotal accounts <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/super-puts-squeeze-on-art-ng-ya-314139">reported in 2010</a> suggesting SMSFs represented between 15% and 25% of all sales in the local art market. This makes sense because SMSFs have a very distinctive member profile: 75% of SMSF members are older than 50 years and 60% have funds in excess of $500,000. </p>
<p>Art patronage studies and recent research into <a href="https://d33ipftjqrd91.cloudfront.net/asset/cms/Art_Basel_and_UBS_The_Art_Market_2017.pdf">the profile of art consumers</a> show this is almost exactly the same demographic who are the traditional buyers of artwork produced by “established” artists. Essentially, the compulsory and tax-efficient nature of the Australian superannuation system has gathered a large portion of the discretionary savings of high-net-worth Australians into SMSFs and then discouraged them from buying art.</p>
<p>Surely the recognised importance of the visual arts sector, both in financial and non-financial terms, justifies “investment grade artwork” having a dedicated ATO asset class rather than being lumped together with other collectable and personal use assets. The usage of mint condition coins, antique furniture or recreational boats would clearly detract from the benefit they could provide SMSF members in retirement. The financial value of artwork, to the contrary, is enhanced rather than diminished when it is displayed and circulated. </p>
<h2>Reigniting investment</h2>
<p>The creation of a separate asset class would allow for targeted rules relating to definitions, valuations, maximum portfolio exposure and compliance, that should alleviate government concerns about the administration of SMSF investment in art. Given the scale of SMSF balances versus the size of the Australian art market, a simple reversal of the 2011 amendments for “investment grade artwork”, would almost certainly see a dramatic improvement in the demand for Australian art.</p>
<p>If these amendments had never been implemented and the 0.18% SMSF allocation toward collectables in June 2011 had been maintained over the subsequent eight years, it’s likely we would’ve seen SMSF investment in artwork double instead of the substantial divestment that has actually occurred. </p>
<p>If the government went further and allowed “investment grade artwork” to be displayed in the private residences of SMSF members, the boost to demand would likely be much greater. This would of course raise reasonable questions in relation to the social equity of the superannuation system. </p>
<p>We could ask why wealthy Australians should be given an additional benefit from an already generous superannuation system? The fact is exceptions to the prohibition of pre-retirement benefits already exist in the current system. For example, a company owned by a SMSF member is permitted <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/Super/Self-managed-super-funds/Investing/Restrictions-on-investments/Business-real-property/">to lease a property owned by the member’s SMSF at commercial rates</a>.</p>
<p>A public policy shift in either of these directions would have zero cost implications for government. Indeed, additional sales growth in the arts economy would generate GST, income tax and likely reduce welfare payments to struggling artists. There were no winners from demanding artwork be stored in offsite facilities, but the arts economy is certainly the loser under the current rules.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C51%2C2424%2C1577&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C51%2C2424%2C1577&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293992/original/file-20190925-51434-1hora09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We can’t blame the GFC for the decline in Australian art value.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2OTQxNzEzMCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMzk5OTkxNzIwIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzM5OTk5MTcyMC9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiZ1hZZ1Zkd1M5eWRKUWJoWXVDQ1NNejNBdCtvIl0%2Fshutterstock_399991720.jpg&pi=41133566&m=399991720&src=ZxQbNRFE9AE-S5qPPzdt_w-1-1">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pros and cons of the Resale Royalties Scheme</h2>
<p>Two years before the SMSF rules were amended in 2011, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2009A00125">Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009</a> was passed in Federal parliament and the associated Retail Royalties Scheme commenced in June 2010. Under the scheme all commercial sales of artwork exceeding a threshold of $1,000 are now subject to a 5% resale royalty on the sale price of the artwork inclusive of GST, which is payable to the originating artist or their estate for a period of 70 years from the artist’s death. </p>
<p>The objective of this legislation was to nurture Australian visual art culture by enhancing the moral rights of artists and ensuring they financially benefited from future sales of their artworks. As at March 2019 <a href="https://www.resaleroyalty.org.au/">the scheme has generated</a> $7 million in royalties for more than 1,800 artists. The average payment has been in the order of $370 and 63% of the artists receiving payments have been Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islanders. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013C00287">post-implementation review</a> of the scheme was conducted in 2013, which received 74 submissions from interested parties, predominantly art market professionals. Despite many of the submissions criticising the administrative burden created by the scheme, and some identifying concerning market behaviours, the results of the review were never made public and no amendments to the scheme have been made. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294272/original/file-20190926-51405-7o8mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clarice Beckett’s Beach Scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CBUS Collection of Australia Art as Advised by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The importance of resale royalties, both in their objective to enhance artist’s incomes and potential to disrupt art market sales, warrants further investigation to ensure the terms of the scheme are set at optimal levels. Unfortunately, the close proximity of the changes to the SMSF rules in relation to collectables and the introduction of resale royalties make it difficult to measure the specific impact of the Resale Royalties Scheme on art market sales.</p>
<p>However, anecdotal feedback supports many of the submissions to the 2013 review that claimed the low level of the threshold amount creates a disproportionate administrative burden compared to the final resale royalty paid to an artist. On a $1,000 sale, an artist would only receive $42 after the administrators of the scheme, Copyright Agency Limited, deducts their mandatory 15% fee. The risk for emerging artists is that commercial galleries and auction houses may be incentivised to avoid low value transactions as a way to minimise the administrative burden of the scheme. </p>
<p>Other industry participants complained the royalty rate was too high relative to similar international schemes. One of the recommendations made by the Australia Council for the Arts in their submission to the 2013 review was to consider replicating similar thresholds and rates applied by equivalent schemes operated in the United Kingdom and European Union. </p>
<p>The latter scheme allows for a royalty that is calculated on a sliding scale from 4% to 0.25% and is capped at 12,500 euros (A$20,330) per transaction. The royalty for the Australian scheme remains uncapped and this potentially invites undesirable market behaviours, such as high value transactions being conducted in foreign tax jurisdictions or cash sales occurring between private parties. </p>
<p>Another Australia Council for the Arts recommendation was to charge the royalty on the sale price of the artwork before GST is added to avoid the royalty acting as a tax on a tax. At the moment the Resale Royalty Scheme rate in Australia is effectively 5.5%. </p>
<p>Amendments to the scheme could remove obvious loopholes, make the scheme less burdensome and improve market efficiency.</p>
<h2>Provenance and authenticity</h2>
<p>As well as systemic economic impediments, the Australian art market also has broader cultural issues that need to be addressed. To date, the art market has opted to be self-regulating. However, as evidenced by <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/blackman-and-dickerson-works-confirmed-as-genuine-fakes-20100601-wvff.html">recent art market scandals</a>, the opaque transactional environment endemic to the art market globally is undermining confidence in the market. </p>
<p>These issues are not exclusive to Australia. Globally, collectors and authenticating bodies are discovering that legal frameworks are deficient for an <a href="https://www.apollo-magazine.com/does-the-art-market-need-more-regulation/">industry of high value but low regulation</a>. Indeed, many foundations that administer the legacy of an artist <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-deep-freeze-in-art-authentication-1398385417">have closed down</a> due to the financial pressures of legal action taken by frustrated and aggravated collectors. Evidence of art experts <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-deep-freeze-in-art-authentication-1398385417">declining</a> to provide professional opinions for fear of litigious reprisal is also concerning. </p>
<p>A key element of the provenance issue is a reliable track record of ownership of an artwork, from its moment of production to its current point of ownership. Ideally, an open access database of artworks could provide collectors with an easily accessible reference point. The data collected by Copyright Agency Limited for the Resale Royalties Scheme purposes ostensibly appears to be a good vehicle for this; however, the nature of the data collected, along with inherent issues with the system itself, has not yielded any comfort for collectors.</p>
<p>Recently, a plethora of start-ups have been <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-of-blockchains-1411054">making substantial claims</a> for blockchain technology to provide solutions for a myriad of art market issues. However, they are yet to demonstrate any evidence or practical impact on the market. The market has to be a willing participant, and the technology needs to be motivated by a greater good than simply profit for its creators, to have any meaningful impact on the broader art world. Again, this implies a role for government or an industry agency.</p>
<h2>Raising our global profile</h2>
<p>The historically insular nature of the Australian art market presents another impediment to growth. Collector demand for Australian art could be greatly expanded by increasing the international profile of Australian artists and their artworks. </p>
<p>It is critical to encourage programs, both commercial and non-commercial, that allow for Australian artworks to be continuously seen alongside their international peers to drive interest, familiarity and confidence with international collectors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294001/original/file-20190925-51401-127zarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia needs to raise its profile on the global arts scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2OTQyMDk4NSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTMyNDA0MDI3MCIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMzI0MDQwMjcwL2h1Z2UuanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCIvM1ptV3dRamw0bU1wMmVWSnRzL0owWnlaVzgiXQ%2Fshutterstock_1324040270.jpg&pi=41133566&m=1324040270&src=Piyo7LPWm9UkjO3PPoeB9A-1-2">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The recent exhibition of ten contemporary <a href="https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2019/desert-painters-of-australia/">Australian Indigenous artists at the Gagosian Madison Avenue gallery</a> in New York provides a topical example of how much collector and media attention can be gained through international exposure. Most of the paintings in this exhibition are owned by Hollywood actor <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-20/steve-martin-loans-indigenous-art-collection-to-nyc-gallery/11025190">Steve Martin</a>, who acknowledged in a recent interview the potential for greater international demand once Australian Indigenous artwork was better understood and marketed in the company of other high profile contemporary artwork. </p>
<p>In this regard, the growth potential of online sales must surely be seen as a promising opportunity for the Australian art industry to reach a global audience of art collectors given the challenges presented by its geographic isolation.</p>
<p>Blaming the GFC for the continued underperformance of the Australian art market and its failure to generate satisfactory income growth for artists only diverts attention away from the real issues that continue to undermine sales growth and confidence. There needs to be a greater focus on addressing the structural issues evident across all sectors of the Australian art market ecosystem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Don’t blame the global financial crisis. The Australian art market has performed poorly over the last decade - but there is plenty of growth potential.David Challis, Postdoctoral researcher and sessional tutor, The University of MelbourneAnita Archer, Research Coordinator, ERCC Research Unit, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1166802019-05-14T20:13:29Z2019-05-14T20:13:29ZWith commercial galleries an endangered species, are art fairs a necessary evil?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273243/original/file-20190508-183077-10wnyhy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An installation view of Vivian Gallery's stand at Auckland Art Fair.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although record numbers of people are flocking to exhibitions in the major public art galleries, foot traffic into commercial art galleries is dwindling at an alarming rate. Embarrassed gallery directors of well-established and well-known commercial art galleries will quietly confess that frequently they scarcely get more than a dozen visitors a day. Outside the flurry of activity on the day of the opening, very little happens for the duration of the show.</p>
<p>This is not a peculiarity of the Australian art scene, I have heard similar accounts in London, Manhattan and Paris. The art public has largely ceased visiting commercial art galleries as a regular social activity and art collectors are frequently buying over the internet or through art fairs. In fact, many galleries admit that most of their sales occur via their websites, through commissions or at art fairs, with a shrinking proportion from exhibitions or their stockroom by actual walk-in customers.</p>
<p>The commercial art galleries have become an endangered species and their numbers are shrinking before our eyes. Leaving aside China and its urban arts precincts, such as <a href="http://www.798district.com">798 Art Zone in Beijing</a>, again this is a trend that can be noted in much of Europe, America and Australasia.</p>
<p>At the same time, the art market is relatively buoyant, albeit somewhat differently configured from the traditional one. The art auction market in many quarters is thriving and, as persistent rumours have it, not infrequently auction houses leave their role as purely a secondary market and increasingly source work directly from artists’ studios. This seeps into their lavish catalogues.</p>
<p>The other booming part of the art trade is the art fairs. Here I will pause on a case study of the <a href="http://www.artfair.co.nz">Auckland Art Fair 2019</a>. Started by a charitable trust about a dozen years ago and run as a biennial, in 2016 the fair, with new sponsorship and a new management team of Stephanie Post and Hayley White, was reorientated. As of 2018, it has become an annual art fair with a focus on the Pacific Rim region. It remains the only major art fair in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Situated in The Cloud, a scenic setting on Queens Wharf in central Auckland, this location also limits its size to create an intimate, friendly, human-scale fair, unlike the vast expanses of the <a href="http://www.expochicago.com">Chicago Art Fair</a> or even <a href="http://www.sydneycontemporary.com.au">Sydney Contemporary</a> in the Carriageworks.</p>
<p>The nuts and bolts of the Auckland Art Fair is that galleries from the Pacific Rim region can apply to exhibit and a curatorial committee of four curators, two from public galleries and two from commercial ones, select about 40 galleries for participation. The event, which is held over five days, attracts about 10,000 visitors and generates between $6-7 million in art sales.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gow Langsford Gallery stand at the Auckland Art Fair featuring art by Karl Maughan, Paul Dibble, Max Gimblett and Dale Frank.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Tobias Kraus</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fair costs about $1 million to stage with 90% of this sum raised from sponsorship, ticket sales and gallery fees and the rest a grant from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development. The public pays an admission fee of between $25-30, depending on when they book.</p>
<p>Art fairs are popular with local governments as they invariably attract people and businesses into the city. In Auckland Art Fair 2019, held in the first week in May, there were 41 galleries participating, almost 30 from various parts of NZ, the rest from Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Shanghai, Jakarta, Rarotonga (Cook Islands) and Santiago.</p>
<p>According to Stephanie Post, a major purpose of the fair is to build a new art audience and, by extension, a new generation of art collectors. The fair is designed to fill the gap between the primary and secondary art markets. For this reason, there is a whole series of “projects” that generally promote new art, frequently by emerging artists, many currently without representation by a commercial art gallery. In 2019 there were ten of these non-commercial projects at the fair. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Auckland Art Fair co-directors Stephanie Post and Hayley White at the fair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Josef Scott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These projects, for the past three art fairs, have been curated by Francis McWhannell, who now plans to step aside to be replaced by a new set of curatorial eyes. There are also various lectures, talks, panel discussions and related exhibitions. This year, most notably, there is “China Import Direct”, a curated cross-section of digital and video art from across China with some stunning and quite edgy material by Yuan Keru, Wang Newone and Lu Yang, amongst others.</p>
<h2>A mixed bag</h2>
<p>Predictably, art at the Auckland Art Fair 2019 is a mixed bag, but the stronger works do outnumber those that are best passed over in silence. In terms of sales, within the first couple of hours quite a number of the big-ticket items were sold, such as work by the Australians Patricia Piccinini and Dale Frank.</p>
<p>Looking around this year’s fair, some of the highlights included Seraphine Pick at Michael Lett; Robert Ellis at Bowerbank Ninow; Max Gimblett at Gow Longsford Gallery; Anne Wallace and Juan Davila at Kalli Rolfe; Christine Webster at Trish Clark; Daniel Unverricht and Richard Lewer at Suite, Toss Woollaston at Page Blackie Gallery, Dame Robin White and Gretchen Albrecht at Two Rooms; Robyn Kahukiwa at Warwick Henderson Gallery; Geoff Thornley at Fox Jensen McCrory; Simon Kaan at Sanderson; James Ormsby at Paulnache and Kai Wasikowski at the Michael Bugelli Gallery.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Behaviour VIII, 2019, oil on linen, 600 x 500mm, Seraphine Pick, Michael Lett Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This selective list of names, to which many others can be added, indicates something of the spread and diversity of the artists being presented at the fair – not only in style and medium, but in the whole range of languages of visualisation and conceptualisation. Although there are a few deceased artists included, like Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori and Colin McCahon (neither represented by a particularly strong work), like most art fairs there is a predominance of well-established blue chip artists, a scattering of art market darlings plus a few unexpected newcomers.</p>
<p>A criticism of art fairs is that they are an expensive market place with high overhead costs, which discourage too much experimentation with “untested” emerging artists. Despite the welcome initiatives of the “projects”, Auckland in this respect falls into line with the pattern of most fairs. </p>
<p>The oft-repeated claim that they create a new art audience is also difficult to quantify. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that many who go to fairs may not have ever entered a commercial art gallery before, this does not appear to be followed up by a conversion of this audience into regular gallery goers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Ormsby at Paulnache.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A spectacle</h2>
<p>Art fairs and blockbuster exhibitions in public art galleries have become popular people magnet events. They are a form of entertainment that is becoming more of a surrogate for consuming art than some sort of conduit for a return to more traditional patterns of art appreciation and acquisition. They are noisy, crowded and colourful spectacles – more like a party than a quiet arena for the contemplation of art.</p>
<p>Is this such a bad thing? Observing the spectacle in Auckland, I was struck by the youthfulness of the thousands of visitors. For many, it seemed the idea that they could afford to purchase an original artwork came as a revelation. Perhaps this was not a $100,000 painting by a major artist, but something more modest and frequently more to their tastes. Nevertheless, new buyers are being introduced to original art and this in itself has to be a positive development.</p>
<p>Art fairs globally are breeding a cult of dependency with some “commercial” art galleries increasingly divesting themselves of a physical existence and living from fair to fair. For a while, this was a complete no-no and fairs insisted that participant galleries had a bricks-and-mortar existence, but in many instances the borders are fudged and to be a gallery you need only be an established art trading entity.</p>
<p>Art fairs are here to stay; the future of commercial art galleries is far more problematic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Embarrassed directors of well-established commercial art galleries will quietly confess that often they scarcely get more than a dozen visitors a day. Can art fairs help fill the void?Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/959382019-01-09T19:11:50Z2019-01-09T19:11:50ZHow the right lighting could save the Mona Lisa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249187/original/file-20181206-128199-1bc3u15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lighting causes damage to paintings over time. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/DCIncuh0XbY">Juan Di Nella/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Next time you’re in a museum or art gallery, observe each painting a little more closely. You may notice cracks on the surface of the canvas, especially if the painting is very old. </p>
<p>The damage you see is caused by radiant energy striking the painting’s surface – and light (visible radiation) causes irreversible damage to artwork.</p>
<p>However, all is not lost. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15502724.2018.1533852">Our new research</a> shows that optimised smart lighting systems can reduce damage to paintings while preserving their colour appearance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/terahertz-spectroscopy-the-new-tool-to-help-detect-art-fraud-77173">Terahertz spectroscopy: the new tool to help detect art fraud</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The dilemma</h2>
<p>Damage to artwork by infrared, ultraviolet and visible radiation is <a href="http://www.cie.co.at/publications/control-damage-museum-objects-optical-radiation">well documented</a>. When a photon (an elementary light particle) is absorbed by a pigment in paint, the pigment molecule elevates to a higher energy state. In this excited state, the molecule’s chemical composition changes. This is called a photochemical action. </p>
<p>Viewed from the human perspective, the photochemical action manifests itself as cracks, discolouration, or surface hardening. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249191/original/file-20181206-128208-h0dq28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johannes Vermeer painted The Milkmaid in 1660.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/milkmaid-by-johannes-vermeer-1660-dutch-411416362?src=Do8T0Wf9OQ1JATiVB6PnKw-1-17">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not surprisingly, daylight, which includes infrared and ultraviolet radiation, is highly damaging to paintings. In museums, it is common practice to use incandescent, and more recently, light emitting diodes (LEDs), to reduce damage. </p>
<p>However, a group of researchers <a href="http://www.vangogh.ua.ac.be/">showed</a> that light can cause colour degradation regardless of the lighting technology. Bright yellow colours in Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers are turning dark brown due to absorption of blue and green light from LEDs. Research on the conservation of artwork makes it look like this is a losing battle. </p>
<p>Of course, you will be right in thinking that the best conservation method would be the complete absence of light. But we need light for visibility and to appreciate the beauty of a painting. </p>
<p>This leaves us with a dilemma of two conflicting parameters: visibility and damage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-does-glow-in-the-dark-paint-work-92438">Curious Kids: How does glow in the dark paint work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Light optimisation</h2>
<p>Lighting technology in itself may not be enough to tackle this dilemma. However, the way we use technology can make a difference. </p>
<p>Our approach to address this problem is based on three key facts: </p>
<ol>
<li>light triggers photochemical actions only when it is absorbed by a pigment</li>
<li>the reflectance factor of a pigment (its effectiveness in reflecting light) determines the amount of light absorption</li>
<li>light output (composition of the light spectrum, and the intensity of the light) of lighting devices, such as LEDs, can be fine-tuned. </li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249193/original/file-20181206-128193-1835fm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yellow colours are particularly vulnerable to being damaged by light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-painting-cracked-texture-183476567?src=jrn42ol2Z0PZEk5uu9EFQw-1-7">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is possible to measure the reflectance factor of a painting and optimise lighting to reduce absorption. Previous research <a href="https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-23-11-A456">shows</a> that optimising light to lessen absorption can reduce energy consumption significantly, and with <a href="https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-25-11-12839">no loss</a> in visual experience. Objects look equally natural and attractive under optimised light sources compared to regular white light sources. </p>
<p>In this new study, we optimised LEDs for five paintings to reduce light absorption. Using a <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/996017">genetic algorithm</a> (an artificial intelligence technique), we reduced light absorption between 19% and 47%. Besides the benefits for the painting, this method almost halved the energy consumed by lighting. </p>
<p>In addition to increased sustainability and art conservation, the colour quality of the paintings was another parameter in our optimisation process. Colour appearance and brightness of paintings were held constant not to lower the appreciation of the artwork. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-eye-disorders-may-have-influenced-the-work-of-famous-painters-92830">How eye disorders may have influenced the work of famous painters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is possible due to a quirk in our visual system. Photoreceptor cone cells, the cells in our retinas which enable human colour vision, are not equally sensitive to the whole visible spectrum. </p>
<p>Different combinations of wavelength and intensity can result in identical signals in our brain. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1331666/?page=1">This understanding</a> gives us the flexibility of using different light sources to facilitate identical colour appearances. </p>
<p>This smart lighting system requires scanning of the artwork to obtain colour information. Then, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2281482">precise projection system</a> emits optimised lighting to the painting. </p>
<p>This method offers a solution to extend the lifetime of works of art, such as the world-famous Mona Lisa, without leaving them in the dark.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorukalp Durmus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers have found a way to reduce light damage to artworks by up to 47% by optimising LEDs to prevent light from being absorbed by the artwork.Dorukalp Durmus, Honorary Associate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1072102018-11-20T14:25:23Z2018-11-20T14:25:23ZDavid Hockney’s auction record: a triumph of nostalgia over spectacle<p>When David Hockney’s 1972 painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46232870">fetched US$90.3m (£70.2m) at auction</a> by Christie’s in New York recently, the art world was quick to celebrate. But this new global record for a living artist reveals more about today’s art world than about Hockney himself.</p>
<p>For most collectors and art market experts, Hockney’s success did not come as a surprise. The <a href="http://www.artnews.com/2018/09/13/christies-set-sell-david-hockneys-portrait-artist-pool-two-figures-record-breaking-80-million-estimate/">pre-auction estimate</a> for the painting was at US$80m, while <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/about/initiatives/the-art-market">Hockney’s own market data</a> from 2017 (which you can find by subscribing to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2018) indicated the feasibility of achieving such a record.</p>
<p>Yet, there were more factors at play. The sale took place one year on from the <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/Leonardo-and-Post-War-results-New-York-8729-3.aspx">sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi</a> for US$450m. The most expensive artwork on record was sold at the same auction house, causing worldwide amazement around its <a href="https://frieze.com/article/christies-rejects-oxford-scholars-claim-450m-salvator-mundi-painted-leonardos-assistant">attribution</a> to Leonardo and the identity <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/11/investing/salvatore-mundi-buyer-abu-dhabi/index.html">of its buyer</a>, who turned out to be a <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/12/06/da-vinci-painting-saudi-prince/">Saudi prince</a>. </p>
<p>Two days after the Hockney sale <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46215476">an article</a> by the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz asked: “Is David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist worth US$90m?” Gompertz himself gave the painting a five-star rating – which appeared to answer his own question. But what did Gompertz’s stars actually, assess? Was it the artistic merit of the painting, or was it its price? Was this, perhaps, a “value-for-money” verdict? </p>
<p>Or, if we think in more general terms: how can we safely position artistic value against monetary value in today’s art market? The straightforward answer is that we can’t. </p>
<p>In contrast to the modern era, during which Hockney’s painting was incubated and created, the relationships between collectors, private galleries, public museums, artists and media have become extremely intricate. Within a domineering and spectacularised art market, any judgements on cultural value are increasingly difficult, as cultural power and money intersect in unprecedented ways. The timing of Hockney’s auction and the largely sensationalist way it has been covered by international media exemplify this new reality.</p>
<h2>Techniques, emotions and technologies</h2>
<p>So, what makes the sale of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) able to raise such complex questions? The painting has been rightly described as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/19/david-hockney-painting-art-portrait-of-an-artist">one of Hockney’s masterpieces</a>. On a visual level, it brings together two well-known features of the painter’s earlier work: his signature depictions of swimming pools, and his two-person paintings. </p>
<p>Hockney consistently used the two-person configuration in order to reflect on notions of intimacy and distance. In the case of Portrait, this aim relates to a very personal crisis: Hockney’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/nov/18/david-hockney-pool-portrait-peter-schlesinger-ex-lover-speaks">break up with his boyfriend</a>, the artist Peter Schlesinger, who was the “model” for the man staring at the swimmer.</p>
<p>One of the most interesting aspects of the painting’s creation, however, is that it was born out of “remixing” <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/David-Hockney-Portrait-of-an-Artist-Pool-with-Two-Figures-9372-3.aspx">two separate images</a> found at the artist’s studio: a photograph of a man swimming and another photograph of a boy looking downwards. In effect, this means that Hockney produced a merge on canvas that, in today’s world, would had probably been executed on screen – most likely, by using a piece of software such as Photoshop.</p>
<p>If we look at the painting from this perspective, then there is a remarkable connection with Hockney’s more recent works. <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/david-hockney">Since the 1980s</a>, Hockney has been inspired by – and has used widely – new imaging technologies: video, digital photography, and mobile devices such as iPads. And although these works <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/06/david-hockney-review-tate-britain">stand far from the merit of his earlier practice</a>, there is one characteristic that makes them particularly relevant to today’s media-saturated, “immaterial” culture: the frequent privileging of landscapes and spaces over people. </p>
<h2>Spectacles without spectators</h2>
<p>The Christie’s auction reveals that this shift should not be ignored or “undervalued”. It is an “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/arts/article/2018/11/16/vente-record-pour-une-toile-de-david-hockney-a-new-york_5384273_1655012.html">evolution of taste</a>” that could, perhaps, explain not only the price fetched by Hockney’s painting, but also the impressive shattering of the previous record for an artwork by a living artist – <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/jeff-koons-balloon-dog-sells-for-record-58m-along-with-francis-bacons-freud-portraits-8936712.html">Balloon Dog (Orange)</a> by Jeff Koons which sold of $58.4m in 2013. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246433/original/file-20181120-161638-1o8unhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog (Orange) which sold for $58.4m in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christie's</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast to Koons’ postmodernist spectacle and its celebration of superficiality, Hockney’s work celebrates the deeper nature of the human psyche with discrete generosity. It embraces not only its two subjects (the two men of the painting), but also its spectators as the onlookers of a very private moment. This is a moment that could last forever, as we are drawn into it in a way that is similar to a never ending zoom-in. Yet, the meditative elements of Portrait could had never been captured with such clarity by even the most state-of-the-art camera, or piece of software. </p>
<p>This does not signify merely a hankering after an older style of painting, but rather a longing for an era when time had a different pace – both culturally and for our inner lives. Today, as our everyday routines are largely driven by the spectacular speed of our networked selves, people can be left behind more easily than ever. We can easily forget the action that is pausing, looking at ourselves and the people who are surrounding us. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that the absence of the human figure characterises the (recent) work of many of the artists who were featured alongside Hockney in the list of the <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/about/initiatives/the-art-market">top-selling artists for 2017</a>.</p>
<p>In that sense, the auction record set by Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) is a triumph of modernism – not only in art market or art historical terms, but also in much deeper cultural terms.</p>
<p>In Hockney’s modern world, intimacy and distance exist side by side, but they can still talk to each other. They can still take the time to do so. In today’s world – and in Hockney’s later, media-based works – this dialogue often feels impossible to take place. It is, perhaps, an irony that such media are often called “time-based”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Balaskas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What does Hockey’s auction record for a living artist mean beyond the art market?Bill Balaskas, Associate Professor in Visual Communication, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.