7 Days in the Art World-- THE FAIR

• "The fair is significant from a prestige point of view. If a gallery is not admitted, people might think that it is not as important as another gallery that is. ...it could destroy their business."
• "The art is so demanding that the architecture needs to be nearly invisible." This is key. The placement of work in a space can really change the impression you get, and if the space is too demanding the work gets lost. Actually, this is a good metaphor for the text on a graphic designer's page as well.
  
• " 'Collector' should be an earned category... An artist doesn't become an artist in a day, so a collector shouldn't become a collector in a day. It's a lifetime process."
  
• "With young artists, you find the greatest purity. When you buy from the first or second show, you're inside the confidence-building, the identity-building of an artist... It's about buying into someone's life and where they are going with it." I never thought about it like this. There is no doubt that as emerging artists, we have a lot at stake at this stage in our careers, and the people who support us now will certainly be partially responsible for our success in the long run. From a curator's standpoint, this much be the most rewarding part of the experience.
  
• "Unlike other industries, where buyers are anonymous and interchangeable, here artists' reputations are enhanced or contaminated by the people who own their work."
  
• "Occasionally meeting an artist destroys the art. You almost don't trust it. You think what you're seeing in the work is an accident." I really hope nobody ever thinks this about me.
  
• Logsdail making a very funny comment about a collector: "_____ buys with his groin. It isn't my kind of collection, but it's a great collection. Very coherent." I can only imagine what this collection must be like.
  
• "We are going to have to set up a public foundation in order to compete for the best words. More and more collectors are opening up their exhibition spaces." This is an interesting perspective, coming from a private collector, not a curator.
• "Art collecting is an addiction. Some people might think I am a shopaholic who has graduated up from Gucci to Pucci to art." Collecting really is an addiction, and not just art. I've been collecting comics since I was 16, and sometimes (especially when I'm low on cash) I consider giving it up. What always stops me is thinking what it a shame it would be to ruin the consistency and dedication of such extensive collecting. But like any addict, I like to think 'I can stop anytime I want to!'
  
• "And artist entering an art fair is like a teenager barging into his parents room while they're having sex... gallerists are reduced to merchants, a role in which they'd rather not be seen by their artists." How true. Though I've never exhibited in a gallery setting, I know how self-conscious I get when a group of people are looking at my work and they're not aware that I made it. The heightened emotions and anxiety created by trying to read their reactions is almost unbearable, and I imagine it would be exponentially worse with money involved.
• "You can't use money as an index of quality."
• "If you do your own thing, you might be a step ahead of the market... You have to make the new work to sell the old work."
• "If artists are seen to be creating art simply to cater to the market, it compromises their integrity and the market loses confidence in their work."
• "What's great about a work often doesn't show up in a JPEG."
• "A great dealer does a good job for the collector but a great job for artists. A great adviser does a good job for the artists but a great job for the collector."

I didn't enjoy this chapter as much as the first two, but it was definitely informative. I really had no idea such massive art fairs existed, and the scope and complexity of the event is hard to grasp. Sarah Thompson gives us a very detailed glimpse into what seems like the madness of the fair.

One of the things that I found interesting is the celebrity status of many of the collectors, who are known purely for their patronage. They aren't artists, only lovers of art with loads of cash, and yet the author is able to recognize, say, 'The Rubells' family with all their eccentric little fair-going behavior. It strikes me as odd that these rich patrons have earned this status, essentially by buying their way into the field. It's not a bad thing per se, I just didn't really know about this facet of the art world.

As a designer, I think this world still feels foreign to me, because I am used to client-based work in which there is a specific goal in mind. In some senses it's easier for designers to identify when a work has succeeded or failed. I think for other types of artists, the value of their work may be hard to measure until an event like the Art Basel fair. Of course, this only takes financial success into account, but it does seem that this is a large determining moment in the sustainable future of an artist. It's hard to believe that your career could come down to simply having one or two influential collectors or curators buying your work. It really gives you something to think about.