~ARTnews~

ARTnews, Back in the Stacks (2018)

I decided to pick a magazine by chance and choice simply by the cover. In my magazine, however, there weren’t too many articles about different paintings or artists. It rather took a historical approach which was fascinating. The article that captured my interest was “The Manic Market of the Go-Go 80s.” 

The article features quotes throughout the 80s from, I assume, different books and articles about the art market during that time. From 1980 to 1989, the quotes show how the art market changed, what buyers were interested in, rising artists, and artists/collectors' concerns. Through the years, the question of if people were collecting art for the ‘right reasons’ kept coming up. I really love this question because it is very philosophical and thought-provoking and I think it’s so interesting to hear different people’s views on the ethics of art, so to speak. 

I wanted to look more into the ‘80s art boom’ but I couldn’t find that much about it online. There was a New York Times article from 1990 asking: will the art boom last? The reason for the boom was attributed in the article to more money on Wall Street, and more marketing from the art houses. It’s interesting to me because I feel like art prices keep increasing, we keep seeing ridiculously high prices in the art world but there isn’t this intense new pool of money each year. I think the quotes from the original ARTnews article still reign true today. Like the NYT article, I want to pose a question if the art boom ever stopped? I may be off-base, not having that much knowledge of art auctions, but I feel like it is a definite question to ask. 

This article also reminded me of Brad Pitt’s art show that we talked about in class. I think both bring important, easily controversial,l and disagreeable, questions about the complicated art world.