Introduction

Sheri Hope Boardman 

 Kimberly Ann Phoenix  The Art Market is a business where art is promoted and sold to the benefit of those you commission, promote, and display an artist's work.  Artists seek out those who could help them show their work to a group that would appreciate their style of work.  Sometimes as in the video clips someone is "discovered" by a person who may have means of getting a large group to view the work; unfortunately the art does not always stand the test of time.  

Erica Gilbert-Levin  

This glimpse into the life of Basquiat proffers substantial clues about the art market and the often-conflicting objectives of the artist in a capitalist society. In fact, the phenomenon of the "art market" itself strikes me as a contradiction in terms: Art, in the idealistic sense, consists in aesthetic quality apart from any economic motive, and "market" suggests the sorts of economic transactions in which a "pure" artist (doubtful that there ever was one) would by definition never engage. It is not surprising, then, that the many aims of the artist collide with one another. An artist like Basquiat may be compelled to compromise the quality of his work or the integrity of his lifestyle, values, and sense of self for the sake of success in the art market ("success," these clips suggest, comprising fame and fortune). He or she may experience pressure to furnish disingenuous interpretative statements about his art (see Basquiat, "A Primal Impressionist") in order to garner the publicity necessary to continue to make a living, or, in a far more extreme circumstance, he may find himself in a position of selling his body to make a sale (see Downtown 81, "Mrs. Cavalcanti"). He may not even manage to afford rent on his living as an artist (see Downtown 81, "Eviction"). Even Andy Warhol advises that "it's not about how much time you spend on [a work], it's about how much you get paid for it" (Basquiat, "Fame, Integrity, and the Beating Machine"). Yet, another driving theme of that first clip, one weighted at least as heavily as the necessity of fame and fortune, is "integrity." The artist, it seems, must somehow capture both: A life of integrity, complete with fealty to meaning and aesthetic quality, on the one hand, and financial success and fame, on the other. The concept of the "art market" seems an apt phrase to express the system that demands these competing realities.  

 Vincent Anthony Falkiewicz
The art market is a bargaining place, rather than a defined marketplace.  It is a place where there is no set price; and the time, effort, and materials put into a piece of art has little affect on its final selling price.  As the first video quotes, "It's not how much you work on something that matters, it's how much you get for them."  For the most part, however, it is about respect one earns amongst the art community. 

From the video you get the sense that artists only sell art to those who are they respected by or those who respect their name.  Moreover, the more one respects the artist, the higher the price they are willing to pay.  For example, in the first video Basquiat attempts to sell his "ignorant art" for ten bucks to Andy Warhol and his companion Bruno knowing they probably don't respect him as an artist and his work or name is not well respected in the art world.  In a later video Basquiat sells a piece of art for five hundred dollars to a woman who thinks very highly of him and his art.   Though his art style has probably not changed much between the two points, the level of respect has.

This shows that although art must be good for someone to buy it, it seems as though the name weighs more than the art itself.  Being "famous" enhances an artist's potential in the art market.  On the other hand, the consumer can also take advantage of this quality.  Whether an artist is well known or respected gives the buyer a powerful bargaining tool, which makes the art market an interesting place.