#simchowitz

(via Tip of the Iceberg: The Vast Underbelly of the Art Market)

“It’s really business as usual,” announced one Fabian Bocart in today’s New York Times, apropos the putative stability of the art market. He was speaking to the paper about flipper mythology, arguing that far from being subject to the whims of a dauphin caste of speculators, the market for art is exhibiting a healthy historical cyclicality. The article in question, authored by Lorne Manly and Robin Pogrebin, seeks to debunk the oft-repeated claim that “soaring prices and quick resales, especially of work by emerging artists, have fueled a perception that a new breed of collectors, fond of flipping art as they would a stock, have overtaken the market.”