Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art

This is a useful book, you learn a lot about the contemporary art market. But the style is best described as disorganized .. it is sometimes very hard to follow, random names pop in and out of the narrative for no clear reason.

A page turner that offers a vivid insight into the art market in the west. I wish, there had been a similar book for Indian art market.

sehr gut authentisch und leicht

In 1980, after dealer Arne Glimcher arranged the sale of Jasper Johns’ Three Flags—which had originally sold for $900—for the sum of one million dollars, Johns wrote Glimcher a note. “One million dollars is a staggering figure,” he commented, “but let’s not forget that it has nothing to do with art.” Now, almost forty years later, after a questionable “Leonardo” has sold for $450 million dollars, Johns’ noble sentiment seems obsolete. Michael Shnayerson weaves together many great quotes and anecdotes in "BOOM" as he chronicles the spectacular growth of the international art market. Shnayerson is a well-connected and observant journalist and BOOM covers a great deal of territory while also introducing many vivid personalities. The book gains momentum slowly—first profiling the dealers and artists who made the postwar market—and then takes off in its final chapters as it describes the dizzying ascent of prices and general market madness of recent years. "BOOM" was not a “I can’t put it down” book, but I did find it readable and engaging all the way through. Shnayerson begins with the history of pioneering dealers like Betty Parsons—who had “mixed feelings” about Jackson Pollock but still gave him a stipend of $150 per month—to the current crop of “mega-dealers” like David Zwirner whose $50 million dollar, five story Chelsea flagship gallery is due to open in the fall of 2020. Larry Gagosian, the alpha dog of the mega-dealers, is a major character and his particular genius and mercurial temperament are vividly described. BOOM includes accounts of key developments, rising prices and a sprinkling of telling statistics to provide context. Shnayerson’s research is broad, his style is readable and the information he charts is accurate (with a few minor exceptions). For example: you won’t be surprised to learn that the world’s 2,208 billionaires (as of 2018) and their “demi-billionaire counterparts” are now among the largest buyers of high-end art. You will likely smile as you read about a dealer who dressed in a bunny suit for six weeks as a stunt and gasp when you read about artist Sterling Ruby and his 120,000 square foot Los Angeles studio. Did you know that there is a major art dealer who has intertwined a working farm and an art gallery? After reading "BOOM" you will know that and more. I recommend "BOOM" to art market junkies who understand that the book will tell them much more about money and marketing than about the passions that drive true artists and their supporters. "BOOM" is an informative and fair-minded book that ultimately made me somewhat depressed. It's effect was to remind me how the art I most often hear about is a high-end brand that mainly serves as a financial instrument for the wealthiest citizens of an increasingly unequal world. The world of wealth, vanity and manipulation that "BOOM" describes left me quietly hoping that Shnayerson’s next book about the art market will be titled "BUST".

Shnayerson has approached this daunting topic as an outsider with no “dog in this fight”, but with a lifetime of journalistic fact-finding skills to apply to this fascinating task. The result (for this very-interested-in-contemporary-art reader) is really understanding the difference between “modern” and “contemporary” art as well as understanding how the “dots” in the art world are connected and how this huge and completely unregulated (and incredibly profitable) marketplace even exists alongside intensely-regulated marketplaces like, for example, hedge funds and private equity funds. Kudos to Michael for decoding all of this. Very enjoyable read!