THE $12 Million
STuffEd SHArk
By Don Thompson
Aurum, £14.99 (paperback)
Don Thompson is an economist by training,
and an entertaining sceptic when it comes
to contemporary art. The $12 Million Stuffed
Shark, subtitled The Curious Economics of
Contemporary Art and Auction Houses, makes
a much-needed attempt to get to grips with the
mysteries of the art market at a time when the about: auctions. Here Thompson’s knowledge of
prices for contemporary art, especially those very markets and law is a convincing and informative
visibly achieved at auction, are going through the read. He manages to make sense of even the
roof, raising eyebrows and cries of amazement in most Byzantine sales agreements between seller,
equal measure. auction house, buyer, guarantor and all the other
‘As an economist and contemporary peculiar intermediaries of the secondary art
art collector’, Thompson declares, ‘I have long market, and paints a truly terrifying picture of
been puzzled by what makes a particular work how opaque and potentially corrupt art dealing
of art valuable, and by what alchemy it is seen as can be. If you want a no-nonsense primer on how
worth $12 million or $100 million rather than say the auction-house system works, here’s a good
$250,000. Works sell for a hundred times what place to start.
seems a reasonable sum, but why?’ Why, indeed. Thompson’s concluding chapters reach
To figure this out, Thompson goes on something for a wider analysis. He’s good at describing
of a ‘personal journey’ through the world of how the expansion of the auction houses is now
dealers and auction houses, accumulating a threatening primary dealers; how the boom in art
terrific, head-spinning mix of anecdotes, statistics fairs are a way for galleries to gang together to
and sales reports, and somewhat overwhelming resist the auctioneers’ centralising control over
Stuffed Shark’s attempt to provide a bigger secondary and primary sales; how museums are
analysis of just what the art market really is really not neutral in the making or breaking of an artist’s
about. career; and how little influence, apparently, art
The book breaks up into three broad critics have on an artist’s price. As for Thompson’s
preoccupations. The first few chapters develop bizarre declaration that ‘[magazine] critics’ writing
Thompson’s angle on how the artworld is as fees are sometimes paid in part or in whole by
brand-obsessed as any other market, with a price the artist’s dealer’, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m
edge gained by being a ‘branded’ artist (Hirst, writing for the wrong magazine.
Murakami), a branded collector (Saatchi), a And yet, in the end, what really sets the
branded dealer (Gagosian) or a branded auction price for art – the flows of money with no better
house (Sotheby’s or Christie’s). This allows for place to go – is never examined. Thompson’s
a cheerful ramble through the hagiographies right that an art-market bubble is unlikely to
of all concerned, and it’s not always clear that burst soon; whatever may be happening in the
Thompson has sifted out the hype: there are West, the art market has internationalised fast
endearing lapses of judgement – Nigella Lawson, in the last few years, bringing in the new wealth
Saatchi’s current wife and a TV cook, is described of China, India and Russia. And he’s right that
as ‘stunning’ – and the usual recycled PR myths art is a rubbish investment – he trains his severe
passed off as fact (for the last time, folks, unless economist’s eye on the business and comes away
the moon landings were indeed faked, Damien with the conclusion that, if it’s a good return you’re
Hirst wasn’t the first artist to send an artwork into looking for, you would be better off investing in
space). just about anything else. But in the end, the most
But once Thompson has skimmed through fundamental paradox of the art market is missed:
By Peter Gidal
the cult of personalities, he gets into his favourite it is full of money to burn at the bottom end, and
Afterall Books, £9.95/$16 (paperback), £19.95/$30 (hardcover)
subject, which is what Stuffed Shark is really yet at the top end, that money is desperate to
convert itself into something that will retain its
value regardless of stock-market and interest-rate
vagaries. J.J. Charlesworth
March_books.indd.indd 173 5/2/08 13:01:12
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