«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

In market terms, there are Pop Art works important for their rarity, originality or quality, such as Warhol's giant prints of Marilyn, Elvis and Mao, and his car crash pictures or Lichtenstein's comic-book paintings. But much of what one might call the diffusion market in contemporary art seems to rest on the taste of a very few collectors, such as Peter Brant, Philippe Niarchos and Steve Wynn, and on dealers, such as Larry Gagosian and Jose Mugrabi, who are strongly committed to particular artists. Indeed, Mr. Mugrabi, who sold "Men in Her Life" on Monday, bought a "Jackie" for $1.65 million and a "Marilyn" for $4.45 million later in the week. Such "support" has been likened to dollar-averaging in equities or as an indication of faith that the work and its value will endure and grow; the more cynical see it as a deliberate distortion of the market. Whether Pop Art remains the gold standard of the art world, or collapses like the subprime-mortgage market, it has become what Warhol prophesied and intended: the dominant global consumer brand. Will it be as enduring as Campbell's Soup or Coca-Cola? Time will tell

-Wall Street Journal