Top Ten Reasons Why The Art World Sucks

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Two days ago, Christies broke a ton of auction records with their "Post-War and Contemporary Art" auction. Some of the highlights? $58.4M for a Jeff Koons dog (world record for a living artist) and $142.4M for a Francis Bacon (a new record for any work of art auctioned).

They also shattered the all-time record for any auction, anywhere, at $782.6M. Yeesh.

So we thought we would take the time to give a little feedback on the current state of the art world:

10. No Financial Support
Gallery owners and buyer expect you to have super high quality art but you'll only get paid if they sell them.

If they can't sell them, you're out of luck. Why not give a small advance if you really think you can sell the work? And do you know how much supplies cost?




9. Competition With Power and Money
A new trend recently has been wealthy individuals retiring and getting into art. With almost unlimited funding, how does a 'regular' artist break through?



8. Talent Not Required
We know that alot of artwork is gimmicky, and with plagiarism at an all time high, you no longer need to be the most skilled artist.



7. Smoke An Mirrors
Gallery owners and dealers make their money on selling the personality of the artist behind the work. So they create a high-end illusion around someone who may do the exact same work at the college kid down the road.



6. Pay-To-Enter Galleries
An all too disturbing trend is galleries that charge the artist to display their work. A glaring example of this is Agora Gallery in NYC that charges artists up to $10,000 to exhibit in their space.



5. Over-Saturation of Artists
Unfortunately, there are just too many artist and not enough venues.

I once heard of a new gallery opening in a small city and them receiving over 80 submissions a day for the first month.



4. Pompous Gallery Owners
Gallery owners are in a position of power and many take advantage of the situation. Even though artists need gallery owners and gallery owners need artists, the owner tends to have an enormous chip on his or her shoulder.



3. The Money Is All At The Top
Too much of the art world is focused at the very top.

The rich get richer.



2. Hype
It's all about building the brand of the artist and hyping up the work.

Even if it has been seen a million times before, as long as it seems fresh and important, it is.



1.

Elitism
The art world has way too high of a barrier to entry. Only the elite seem to get to be a part of the art world.