«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

Oligarchs and other super-rich investors are 'bulk buying' new art and destroying the middle market for artists, a panel of experts claimed yesterday. And they said a new 'Premier League' of art galleries and buyers fuelled by new wealth money was emerging, leaving smaller galleries and artists fighting for crumbs. Multi-billionaires such as Mexican magnate Carlos Slim and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich have so much money that they need to exercise little judgement when buying art.Instead they can purchase the work of any promising young artists for high prices and gamble on one or two of them becoming a success. But the 'spray and pray' approach to buying art among the super-rich has out-priced traditional middle-market art buyers like doctors and lawyers. The knock-on effect is being felt by smaller galleries and the artists they represent, where interest from traditional middle income investors has waned. The panel discussing changes in the art world at the Institute of Contemporary Art on The Mall in Central London on Friday also said some of the top gallery owners were guilty of deliberately inflating the art market around a few blue chip artists, while neglecting to "nurture" the rest.

-The Mirror
  january 20 2013