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. Fledglings were plucked from art schools and fed into an ecosystem of collectors, galleries, curators, and, eventually, auction houses, an arrangement that would produce money for all involved.

Up until this time, the traditional artist trajectory was that, after a few years of undefined study, artists would get some kind of day job to survive, and spend as much time as possible in the studio. They’d put in a decade or two of sustained work to develop their voice, and ripen into seasoned, respected artists who might eventually get their due (if they were white males). Because many artists stop making work after a few years, this system was a litmus test of artistic vision and integrity: if, despite few rewards, the players remained in it for the long haul, they were the ‘real deal’.