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(Exhibition of Picasso: Mosqueteros' at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, New York, 2009)
The sharpest distinction is made between the front room of the gallery where the works are exhibited and commerce is suppressed and the back room, which is the commercial nerve center of the gallery. Inside the front room neither a cash register nor price tags are present. When a work has been sold it is not removed from the exhibition, but a small sticker may be put on a price list of the works that are being exhibited. In 1988 New York City decided to enforce the "truth-in-pricing" law for art galleries. The law stated that all galleries had to conspicuously display prices. Protests against the decision criticized that the law would turn galleries into retail stores. This law would bring the consciousness of money to the forefront of the galleries and that exposure of prices would get in the way of the visitor's enjoyment of the exhibition. After violators refused to pay fines the government eventually dropped the issue. Typically today prices of very expensive artworks are only available on request
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