Almighty painter

Chapter 623 Playing House

"In the past, if a single work of yours could sell for $100 million, you were a top-tier painter. If it could sell for $1000 million, you were the most important giant of the era, and you would be the representative figure printed on the cover of art history textbooks in the future when introducing the social trends of the past years."

Salma held up a finger. "One hundred million dollars, this honor once belonged only to Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh and Andy Warhol, and it was only after their death, after they turned into dry bones in the grave, that they reached this number. The only painting Van Gogh sold during his lifetime sold for 16 and a half Louis d'Or, and Picasso lived to see his work displayed in the Louvre. But the highest price he has ever sold, even if the exchange rate changes and inflation are taken into account, will not exceed 500 million US dollars today."

"When Damien Hirst was at the peak of his wealth, British critics coined a term called 'Hirst time'. They said a new era in the art world had arrived. He was not the first billionaire in the art world, but he was the first billionaire in a single auction. People predicted that he would soon knock on the door of 200 million in a single auction, then 300 million, 500 million... pushing the art trade into a new era of great prosperity."

"He will fly high in the sky from now on, and one of his works will sell for more than a Boeing 747, the queen of the skies."

“It’s a pity that time has not come.”

Jane Arnold sighed.

“Yes, unfortunately, the critics were wrong. 2009 was not the beginning and dawn of a new era in the art market, but the climax and final chapter of the old dynasty. Now another decade has passed, and no traditional artist has reached Hirst’s commercial heights. Even for Hirst himself, that year was the peak of his career.”

"The economic crisis intensified and swept the world. Oil Painting magazine downgraded his recommended star rating. He broke up with Gagosian. All these made his market go downhill after ups and downs. In the 2010s, his works began to be unpopular. In just a few years, the price of some works quickly fell to less than 50% of the peak of the market. This seriously hit the confidence of investors."

the woman said softly.

"Hurst has been working hard over the years to make a comeback."

"I don't know if I can see the day when he returns to his peak, but I only know that it won't be an easy thing."

Salma took out two leaflets from the pearl bag in her hand and handed them to the two people beside her.

"Uh, no, no, just take a look."

Uncle Sakai shook his bulging belly, indicating that he was holding a burger and didn't want to dirty the paper.

He stuck his head out.

He glanced at the contents over Jane Arnold's shoulder.

It was a promotional leaflet of the auction house, with the classic P-shaped trademark "PHILLIPS" in white letters on a black background and the name Damien Hirst.

"Phillips Auction House in London and Damien Hirst's foundation have jointly collaborated to auction three classic works on the 100th of this month, including "Esara" from the Butterfly Kaleidoscope Mandala series, "Decahydrogen Neon" in black and white polka dot painting, and "Children's Cloud" in color field painting. The auction house expects the turnover to be between 200 million and million US dollars."

Salma explained: "Fifteen years later, Hirst is still the most famous painter on the planet, but it seems that his special auctions are not as popular and grand as before. The scale and expected turnover of this auction are only a fraction of what they used to be. The real god of wealth that critics have been waiting for for a long time seems to have become a moon in the water and a flower in the mirror."

"In fact, the art market is still rising overall. If we don't consider inflation, there are more painters whose single works can reach the 2025 million US dollar mark this decade than in the last decade." Kazunari Sakai licked his lips and made the opposite suggestion: "It is not impossible to make another attack on million US dollars. I talked to the owner of the Ma Shi Gallery, Ma Shi III, and he is optimistic. Before -"

"Optimistic? What do you mean by optimistic? Professor Sakai, amid the optimism of the critics and the media, the market bubble collapsed. This kind of story is always repeated in the industry, right?"

The woman glanced at the fat man next to her and a playful smile appeared on her face.

"The only rule is that once the value of contemporary painters reaches a certain limit, it is extremely difficult to increase it after a certain iconic moment. Hirst, Roberts... Over the past half century, this rule has been repeatedly proven."

“Gallery owners are always the hardcore optimists in this industry, because they want to fool investors into believing that the artworks purchased from their galleries will surely appreciate steadily and outperform the overall market.”

"I know who Mashi III is talking about. Five years ago, David Hockney sold his Portrait of an Artist for $9031 million at auction. The media also reported extensively on it. He is only $969 million away from breaking the $ million mark for a single work. The next miracle could happen at any time. But can it really happen? At least I don't know the answer."

"The only thing I can tell myself is that Hirst was only $140 million away from $1.99 million in a single auction, and the gallery owners were flattering him. But from $2 million to $0.5 million, that last %, he has been gone for almost years."

Businesswoman in pink casual shirt with sarcastic smile on face.

“I have observed the art industry over the years and I am tired of the same old story templates. Artists always fail when they are closest to creating miracles, and critics always mistake the last sunset burning on the horizon for the dawn of sunrise. I believe you two should be tired of hearing the same story.”

Kazunari Sakai didn't say anything this time.

Salma said: "Why did this happen? Economists have their own explanations and calculation formulas, such as the bad international financial environment, collectors' lack of investment confidence, changes in market tax rates, Brexit... Art critics also have their own explanations. The price of works has fallen because the artists' works have lost their originality or insight and have become a hodgepodge of elements."

"Bullshit."

The woman twitched the corner of her mouth.

She rudely uttered a vulgar word that was very inconsistent with her social status.

"It's all nonsense. Some of these guys are trying to use results as causes, and some are trying to use theories to force reality. In my opinion, rational people should throw "Oil Painting" and "The Brokerage Critic" into the trash. The only task of financial experts is to fool the public into believing that they can make professional comments on everything, while the daily work of art critics is the opposite. They make comments on everything and then use this to fool the public into believing that they are professional."

Uncle Sakai silently took another bite of the burger in his hand.

Neither agree nor disagree.

No talk either.

The other party's words sounded a bit extreme and cynical.

This kind of extreme and cynical character, the disdain for the expert answers in the newspapers and the belief in one's own judgment, may be precisely the reason why this woman, who was originally a fashion designer, was able to carve out a place for herself among the financial sharks in the turbulent sea of ​​Manhattan.

Uncle Sakai had reservations about her words.

But it is also quite interesting to listen to the other party's conclusion from the perspective of an observer.

"So what do you think is the crux of the problem?"

Jane Arnold raised an eyebrow with interest.

The purpose of all that the other party said was ultimately to pull him onto the other party's warship.

But he was indeed quite curious about the other party.

"The answer is simple. The key lies in the underlying operating logic of this market." Salma winked at him. "In the final analysis, it is because traditional art has been a top-down market since its birth. The people who determine the value of great artists are always a handful of people, a few wealthy collectors and critics who have the right to speak in terms of aesthetics."

"In the past, it was the kings and nobles. Now, at auctions, it is still the upper class who are willing to pay for art. They have the power to decide the value of artists. As for ordinary people, great Western artists have their own fan groups around the world, but how many of these fans are not swept up by the commentary articles in newspapers and the astronomical transaction prices in the capital market?"

"In 300th century Florence, the way people evaluated a great painter was 'he was the Pope's personal painter', 'the Medici family gave him gold coins to fund him to paint a Madonna', so he must be a great painter."

"Nowadays, in discussions among young artists, the way to evaluate a great painter is 'Oil Painting magazine gave him a five-star recommendation!', 'Bill Gates spent 2000 million to buy one of his paintings', so he must be a great painter." Salma said: "Does this tone sound familiar to you?"

“In the traditional European art market, the higher you go, the more you cannot escape the circle of ‘art for a minority’.”

Salma raised an eyebrow.

"President Brown's speech at the European Art Conference was not actually that disastrous. The truth is always unpleasant to hear."

"In fact, before Miss Elena announced that she would donate her family collection of tens of thousands of pieces, I always felt that Miss Elena was a good speaker, but Chairman Brown was the one who was more sincere and willing to tell the truth. A minority of outstanding people, this is a very accurate summary." The woman blinked at them, "I know that the artists present at the time liked this statement in their hearts. At least some of them liked it."

"You like your own superiority, your own personality, your own uniqueness, your own incomprehension by the public and your superiority, just like David Lynch's movies are never made for the majority of audiences. Hey, what reason does the public have to point fingers there? I am the most unique one. I can do whatever the fuck I want. It's your problem that you can't understand me. I don't need to cater to the mass market. I am who I am."

Jane Arnold smiled and shook his head.

"Hey, Salma, you are talking about the working state of some artists, but this is definitely not the working state of illustrators. If you submit some drawings that no one can understand, most clients will definitely not be satisfied."

Kazunari Sakai silently lowered his head and bit his burger.

It means that he is a painter of young ladies in the neoclassical style.

"Yes, that's why I found you two in the first place."

Salma understood the body language of the two people. She took a step back and showed her white teeth.

"I am who I am - it is very difficult for a painter to be so pure, and to stay in the ideal world. What does it mean to be who I am? 99.99% of artists who completely disdain everything in the outside world and are uncompromising sleep under bridges. The remaining 0.01% may have a chance to become famous, but that is many, many years after they die and turn into dry bones, such as Van Gogh, Bach, and even Shakespeare in front of us. They have all experienced the process of rediscovery by later generations."

“No one is immune to the influence of external things. The act of selling artworks and collectors buying paintings has a two-way influence. Artistic creation is constantly influencing the aesthetic preferences of buyers, and the market feedback is constantly influencing the artists themselves in the opposite direction. Either choose the majority or be shaped by the minority. This is a simple question of choosing one or the other.”

The woman clapped her hands.

"Remember the example I gave? Miss Kaplan from my high school, she was noble, she was aloof, she lived only in her own small circle. The few people in that small circle constituted her entire social environment. Her joys and sorrows were therefore shaped by those few people in the social circle."

"During my senior year, I heard that Miss Kaplan had a falling out with a more popular girl in her sorority, after a 'pick her or me' high school trick. She was ostracized from her social circle. She had no friends, no social occasions, and became depressed and nearly dropped out of school."

"In fact, there were too many ordinary people in school who wanted to make friends with her, like me at that time. She could have had many, many friends, but she rejected everyone."

“The art market is a high school magnified many times. It is countless times larger and more complex. But the underlying logic is still the same, the social logic of naive high school girls who say ‘I like you, but not you’ and ‘Choose her, choose me’.”

"Choose Impressionism or the Academy, Monet or Pissarro, Picasso or Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol or Hirst, Sir Brown or the Irene family. If you play with her, you can't play with me. High school girls pay attention to connections, and who is good friends with the cheerleader. In today's art circle, connections are still king, and it matters who has a close relationship with Sir Brown and who has a good personal friendship with the Irene family. Girls compete with each other to see whose dress is more beautiful, whose hair is clean and smooth, and who can make a big splash at the campus dance-"

“And the big galleries are competing to see who has the better publicity and packaging capabilities so that their artists can stand out at auction.”

There was a mysterious look on Salma's face, as if she could see through everything in the world.

"The more I observe this industry, the more familiar it feels. Over the years, the people I interact with have grown from adolescent students to top figures in the art industry. Many things have changed, but many things have not changed at all."

"So, lying in bed every day, I kept asking myself, why do I, Salma Mapes, need to be in this circle, playing some boring house games with some naive little girls?"

"If I'm brave enough, I can eat them all. I can't be the queen of the sorority or the cheerleader in a sparkly dress at the prom, but I can be the real shark in this game."

(End of this chapter)