"How the Art World Became the Last Party in Town"

From Details Magazine, October 2008.
by Simon Dumenco

In light of Damien Hirst's latest auction, as well as others selling work, waiting for the art bubble to pop, this article is very interesting in terms of wondering how and when it will end. I don't know, part of me can't help but think about taking Jeff Koon's balloon animals and putting a "Ty" beanie baby tag on them, or using Takashi Murikami sculptures and making Pokemon cards of them. All in all, meaning that this too will have an end and I am wondering what all of this will be worth when it does end. Will the art be in fact worth millions, even as a signifier for the time that we all lived in, or will it just gradually decline like all other fads.

In any case, the last paragraph of the article is very interesting:

"Not far from where Murikami is standing, an auction assistant whose hob it is to call attention to subtle bidders points vigorously at an aging blue blood. Given that the potential buyer is white and her appointed auction helper is not only dark-skinned but wearing white gloves, there is something vaguely colonial about the tableau. But it's not entirely clear who's serving whom-or who's using whom. The artist, of course, can't survive without the collector, the collector has nothing without the artist, and both are in thrall to a market that may or may not be delusional. Meanwhile, the drone of the auctioneer ticking off bid increments would be almost soporific were it not for the fact that tens of millions of dollars are being spent every few minutes."

I also want to add to this that I can't decide if Terrance Koh is brilliant, or just another art world fraud who is unoriginally playing on past themes, theories and ideas to capitalize on being a celebrity, even if it just is in the art world.