Turning Prophets Into Professionals: Our Complicity in a Corporatized Art World Paradigm

Note: This is a paper that was originally delivered at the 2021 College Art Association Conference, as part of the panel “Upending the Gallery-Centric Model of the BFA Thesis,” and covers one of the topics explored in a book I am currently writing on finding visual voice. The video version of this paper is here.

As usual, it was money that ruined everything. In the 1987 film “Wall Street”, fictional character Gordon Gecko argued that, contrary to our antiquated notions of virtues and vices, that “greed…for lack of a better word… is good.” His phrase defined the beginning of a new era in our culture. Soon after, the profit-centered corporate paradigm simultaneously swallowed up both the Art World and academia, “professionalizing” artistic practice in its wake.

In the 1980s, the commodification of art ramped up. The once-small art universe exploded when art became an asset class in an unregulated marketplace, sparking the growth of mega galleries, art fairs, and art stars. Art objects became trophies, money-laundering vehicles, and an excuse to attend exclusive parties around the world. The older “artists who had paid their dues” were suddenly sidelined, as an investment mentality of “getting in on the ground floor” drove speculative buying of young artists’ work…