Art Bubble

Dave Hickey's talk was interesting to listen to since he is very comical. I liked how he started his lecture comparing the basketball player, who played by the rules, to the rules of the art world which he explains are not followed anymore. He also explained how there are a few artists who prefer art over money but the majority prefer money over art-so they create art only to make money.

My favorite part of Hickey's lecture was about the "art bubble;" he described how over the years art is being sold not necessarily for its value but just to be sold. He said that the art bubble creates "greedy artists and stupid collectors." I was really interested in this term "art bubble" so I looked it up online and learned more about it. I learned that prices turn into a bubble only when they reflect a relationship to other prices. Basically, an art bubble arises when a piece of art is sold for the price that someone is willing to pay for it-not on its value. This is what Hickey was talking about, the art world has no rules anymore, artists sell their art just to make money and collectors will buy the art as an investment.

The other part of the lecture that I enjoyed was when Hickey talked about installation art. He talked about how installation art has not changed and he talked about Bruce Nauman and the plywood box. I was excited to hear this because we learned about Bruce Nauman in class so it was interesting to hear a name I knew.

Finally, Hickey sums up his lecture saying that some day the art market will hopefully go back to the way it use to be, and artists will only display art that they value and collectors will buy art that they like or that they think has value, rather than both the artist and the collector just buying and selling art for the purpose of gaining money and investments.

--Rachel