Frank Bernarducci says:

Working as an art dealer for 25 years, there’s not much you can tell me that I don’t already know about the “art world” but the author speaks with authority and does a good job of keeping the pages turning on what could have been a deadly dull expose’. With the exception of the chapter on the sad sacks in the California art school, there’s a enough ‘insider’ information, somewhat hyped, to make this a worthwhile read. Anyone interested in contemporary art would find it perhaps useful and mildly amusing. On a par with ‘I Bought Andy Warhol’ a similar tome.
Rating: 3 / 5

James R. Holland says:

My daughter bought this book but was so busy with her own sculpture work that she didn’t have time to read it and when she saw that I was interested in it, she loaned it to me to read first. I’d been thumbing through the volume reading bits here and there so I accepted my daughter’s offer to borrow the book. It was not only a nice jester on her part, but I very much enjoyed the book. That surprised me. The blurb on the book cover described the book as “A fly-on-the-wall account of the sophisticated subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect and promote contemporary art.” That was a decent summation of the volume that is actually seven stories tied together. The first chapter “The Auction” most attracted my attention so I began there. With this book the reader can start with whatever chapter most appeals to them because they are all complete within themselves. Having been to some minor mid-priced art auctions the subject wasn’t unfamiliar to me. What was different about this Christie’s Art Auction was the character portraits of the various parties involved in the sale. The skillful auctioneer (Christopher Burge), the sales representatives, the media, and of course the collectors were each portrayed individually and as they interacted. By the time the auction had begun the auctioneer had a decent idea of who was going to buy which offerings. The only doubt was how much the work would go for and if another interested party either at the auction or one the phone bidders with his art representative would attempt to outbid the most likely buyers. The reader feels like they were there at the auction because of the writer’s skill.

Probably this reader’s biggest surprise came from the second chapter “The Crit.” I really didn’t think I’d want to read more than a few pages of it, but I was oh so wrong. It was fascinating and had a very surreal feeling about it. In fact the theory, actual event and even the artists involved in this crit were all a bit surreal even for artists living and working in LA.

The other chapters in the book were “The Fair, The Prize, The Magazine, The Studio Visit” and “The Biennale.” Each of those chapters would make an interesting magazine article that would stand alone. They were all fun. They all supplied fascinating information and introduced new characters. As an amateur collector I learned about an entire new universe of contemporary art and was introduced to some amazing and colorful collectors. Many of the major International sales such as the Biennale that is held in Venice, Italy were completely new to me. I suspect that even collectors with much more experience and knowledge than this reviewer would find the book interesting even if it were just to see what was written about them. The drive to collect is much the same among all collectors it’s just that in this book the prices, and hopefully the quality of the art, is right up there where the collector’s private jets fly. Art collecting has become very fashionable for the super-wealthy. Many of them spend most of their free time secretly traveling around the world seeking to add to their collections without some of their competitors knowing what they are about. Like fighters in a ring or poker players around the gambling table they carefully conceal their thoughts and feign moves to distract other potential buyers of the work they are interested in buying. Sometime a collector couple will come halfway around the world to the show or fair and deliberately not look at the actual piece they are plotting to acquire. They have thoroughly researched it in advance. Most of these collectors know each other, but business is business and there will be plenty of time to socialize after all the deals are completed.

It was interesting to learn some of the reasons that the price of art, even that of living, contemporary artists, has reached such heights. It was an eye-opening experience to discover how many different types of galleries there are and why just being selected for representation by certain primary galleries can immediately double the market price of an artist’s work. This is very well written. It’s not an easy subject to bring to life for the typical audience who knows little about art. They will know a lot more once they have read this book. More importantly, they will have a clue to what they don’t know.
Rating: 4 / 5