Cultured Magazine

make beautiful things and you want to keep the thing floating. Obviously there is a downside to the ramped-up volume of it all, but the positive side is that there are so many more people making a living in the art world, even if navigating this labyrinth has become increasingly complex. JS: Looking back in history to the Renaissance when artists and art flourished, even then there were collectors only interested in the prestige and status art conveyed. Then the robber barons of the early 20th century bought Renaissance paintings from Europe to give them cultural and intellectual currency, and not necessarily because they loved the art per se. I used to be very upset with the idea that art has become a commodity for so many, but I have now accepted it, for better or worse. For sure it's likely to remain a commodity, especially when five of the top banks in the world are advising their clients to buy art along with bonds, equity and gold and are encouraging their customers to borrow against art, like a mortgage on a house. Whether or not you think this is despicable, as Barbara Rose says in the film, there are people who look at art as a business. Many of us who think of art as another religion have always held it to a higher standard. So it's sometimes painful when there are people out there only interested in using art to create another profit center. It feels like blasphemy. DW: Artists are also criticized for being successful. If you're an architect, you're also selling ideas and creativity. It's not that different from art. And when an architect or filmmaker or designer accepts a huge commission, they're not criticized, they're applauded. SR: The film doesn't try to answer these questions. Why did you leave it open in this way? JS: Because there are no easy answers to the question of how to determine the value of art. Simon de Pury opens the film by saying that "the most expensive works have the greatest value." That's basically the hypothesis that is disproven over the next 96 minutes of the film. DW: People only value cultural artifacts if they're expensive. Larry Poons says in his Larry-esque way: How can the most expensive artist be the best? It's not like baseball where your batting average is your batting average. It's brilliantly put, and it's so true. Some experts can decide tomorrow that George Condo no longer has talent and his market would plummet. It's all very precarious. JS: In most markets there are financial criteria and other objective ways to make credible valuations. This is less so in art, and the fact that art is traded and unregulated just makes it even more complicated. There were so many issues we wanted to cover, but 97 minutes is just not enough time to do so. DW: I hope that we show that there's an aspect of the art world—the actual art—that's sort of priceless. Art outlasts us all, it actually matters! A video still of Larry Poons from The Price of Everything; opposite, George Condo at work. culturedmag.com 145

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