The Supermodel and the Brillo Box: Back Stories and Peculiar Economics from the World of Contemporary Art Paperback – November 17, 2015

While some themes were the same as 12 million dollar stuffed shark, additional detail and new explorations make for an insightful and worthwhile read. Good blend of economics and social study. A unique exploration of the "Market as Medium"

This doesn't have the freshness of the "$12 million Stuffed Shark," which was excellent at dissecting the art markets, especially the evening auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's. But Don Thompson does a great job of moving the story forward. He is probably nevere going to be required reading in graduate art programs eagerly recruiting new students and their tuition spending. He reiterates a point he made in the first book, that criticsa nd gallery owners and auction houses agree that 85 to 90 percent of contemporary art is not good, or awful, they just disagree n which 10-15 percent is great...usually finding much of it located in their own stable of artists.London and New York between them have about 80,000 resident artists, writes Thompson. "75 might eventually become mature artists with seven-figure incomes, and another 300 might show in mainstream galleries and earn six-figure incomes from their art.On the next tier are several thousand artists with some gallery representation who supplement their income waiting on tables, teaching, or writing, or who receive support from their domestic partners or from their local welfare authority."There are thought to be 15,000 artists walking the streets of New York or London at any one time, calling on dealers and seeking representation."It's a wonder MFA recruiters haven't been prosecuted for fraud. But that's probably true for a range of graduate programs, from social work to journalism.He bravely lists the 20 top contemporary artists -- no woman is on the list -- and the most popular would rank between 25 and 50, he says. He also lists the top galleries and notes that the two top auction houses would rank high just on their private dealing. Want to find the next great market? Try Havana where an excellent grad school is turning out great artists. Thompson also looks at evolving markets in the Middle East and China, new museums, huge acquisition budgets, the evolving roles of galleries, auction houses, fairs and internet sales (pretty disappointing so far after two decades of efforts).Great on the uber galleries -- loved the comment from Charles Saatchi, not exactly a babe in the wood when it comes to the business of art."I adore Larry Gagosian, but I always hear the theme music from 'Jaws' playing in my mead as he approaches."This is mostly the top end of the art market, but also a look at what is happened to the mid-level galleries. The sums of money involved are amazing.

I have like all of his books.

Met the author at an ASA conference, very knowledgeable and entertaining!

Along with An Object of Beauty (1991) by Steve Martin, we are taken on a detailed visit into the world of "art" to see what it is and what it isn't, plus take a hard look at human nature. Martin provided the fictional, but believable, perspective, and Thompson the factual side. As another reviewer noted, perhaps more detail than essential, but still quite informative.

This is an interesting light read for people who already know about contemporary art and want to know a little more about the specifics of how it is sold in the high end global market. It is about the “where, when, who and how (effing) much” in the sales of art. It has a lot of interesting facts and obscene astronomical numbers, but very little economics (no theory or thesis).The author seems to know a lot about sales, but he does not really talk about the art being sold other than to name the artists and the price their work sells for in various settings. In fact, the way he talks about artists can be misleading. The latest example, and the one that prompted me to sit here and write this review, is that he calls Rirkrit Tiravanija “an Argentinian artist whose canvases sold for in 5 minutes, blah blah”. As a matter of fact, Tiravanija was indeed born in Argentina, so, factually, that is correct. But as his name might indicate, he is anything but, and although his work is “global”, his sensibility speaks way more to his Thai roots (he was the son of a Thai diplomat when he was born in Argentina before being brought up in Thailand and going to school in Canada and the USA). Moreover, if you don’t know anything about his work, the sentence about him in the book makes it sound like he is some kind of painter, which he really reaaally is anything but. And this is only one such example.All in all, as a book, like one reviewer said, it is “way to pass the time”; as a metaphor for our times, maybe something else altogether...

Great fun to read and will written.

This is the second of three books written by the author on the art market. The first was excellent. This is virtually the same book, with little, if any, incremental material.