The shift to an almost purely commodified art world surely begins with the rise of the art dealer as influential trend-setter and arbiter of taste from the 1870s onwards; it has reached its apotheosis with the dealer-led commodification of contemporary art. Instead of reflecting institutional, social or aesthetic preoccupations, much of contemporary art is primarily a refuge for oligarchs’ money and a prestigious type of investment in a world where the global über-rich have more wealth than they can imagine outlets for. – The Critic
Tag: 05.20
The Decline Of Novels, Poetry, Art… And Just About Everything Else?
The truth, sad or bad or however one wishes to characterize it, is that both contemporary visual art and contemporary poetry no longer hold anything approximating the central place in culture that they once did. Without anyone actually saying so, these once major branches of art have become of at best tertiary interest. A person who thinks himself reasonably cultured need no longer be responsible for knowing much, if anything at all, about either of them. – Commentary