Seven Days in the Art World

This enlightening and entertaining book offers a glimpse into the rarified atmosphere of the booming contemporary art world as it stood in the years 2004-07. Sarah Thornton, with her ethnographic perspective on seven diverse segments of this expensive and exclusive scene delivers a peek into a world which few artists and lovers of art will ever gain access. Offering glimpses into the marketing and selling of art through the dealers and auction houses, the trade shows and publications, Thornton delivers a thoroughly researched and lively written peek behind the so called curtain of art commerce. With the dramatic economic downturn the world experienced in 2008 this may be a prescient view of a market at its climax. The artists themselves are represented at they hone their craft at a legendary California critique session, we tag along with short listed artists awaiting news of the winner of a prize which will catapult the prices of their art into the stratosphere. We then travel with an artist at the top of his game on a tour of the international studios where his work is created by and for him. Interestingly, the artwork itself is but a minor character in this impressive theatrical event of Seven Days in the Art World. The artists pour ideas into and onto the market, the press and critics push the market with fantabulous facts and figures and the dealers, auction houses and collectors play the market. One is reminded of the Wizard behind the green curtain in the land of Oz pumping away while trying to keep the illusion real. Kudos to Sarah Thornton for pulling back the curtain on this endangered microcosmic world in such an accessible and informative style.

Sarah Thornton has produced a dense, fact filled book about modern art which reads like a thrilling historical novel covering the past eight year when "the contemporary art world has boomed, museum attendance has surged, and more people than ever were able to abandon their day jobs ... it became hotter, hipper and more expensive." Thornton focuses on a basic theme: "contemporary art has become a kind of alternative religion for atheists. ... It demands leaps of faith but it rewards the believer with a sense of consequence." She explores the faith in seven installments. The Auction -- an artist free zone, a morgue for art, where believers commit with immense sums to the validity of their beliefs (or not). Attending auctions at great houses like Christies, and especially the previews, can educate and develop your critical sensibilities in amazing ways. I've attended many viewings over the years: art, fine furniture, books, stamps, wine and jewelry; Thornton describes accurately the scene not only for the big dollar events, but auctions where the dollars are much smaller, but the intensities and personalities just as various and just as interesting. The Crit -- a legendary teacher's class in California where students seek a Masters in Fine Arts. "Whether it's deemed art or not, the Post-Studio crit is Asher's and most influential work.... It's a minimalist performance where the artist has sat, listened with care, and occasionally cleared his throat." The Fair -- "Artists tend to view art fairs with a mixture of horror, alienation and amusement." The great thing about art fairs is that absolutely anyone can attend; the ones in New York City are often theater of the highest order, thousands of works displayed in the Javits Center for example. The Prize -- Thornton's description of how the Turner Prize is awarded makes for some of the most bizarre reading in the entire book: "One [judge] later admits to me that he alternately makes an effort to keep an open mind and rehearses arguments in support of his favorite. How does one compare apples, oranges, bicycles and bottle racks?" The Magazine -- "'Artforum' is to art what 'Vogue' is to fashion and 'Rolling Stone' was to rock and roll." Thornton is insightful on the conflicts between the ads for art and the need to retain "intellectual purity"; during the last two glory years of modern art "the magazine has been as thick as a phonebook, earning it the nickname 'Adforum.'" The Studio Visit -- This is no attic garret in Paris. Takashi Murakami owns a company with an insane rang of activities. "It makes art. It designs merchandise. It acts as a manager, agent and producer for seven other Japanese artists. It runs an art-fair-cum-festival called Geisai, and it does multimillion-dollar freelance work for fashion, TV, and music companies." The Biennale -- The Venice Biennale takes over the entire city for at least ten days, but Thornton argues that it is over for the art world before the public is adm

This is, hands-down, the single best guide for outsiders to the inner life of the art world, from the fledgling artists hoping to make their mark to the affluent collectors and the dealers, curators and advisors who surround them. Her structure is carefully chosen and works beautifully -- breaking the art world down into seven parts, each devoted to a specific group or dimension (the auction, the studio visit, the art fair, etc.), she sheds light on the characters and issues that arise in the context of each. There is enough overlap to make this structure function -- for instance, we encounter gallerists Jeff Poe and Tim Blum first at ArtBasel, then rejoin them as part of her chapter on visiting Takashi Murakami's studio(s), where Poe and Blum discuss an upcoming retrospective with the artist and museum curators. To me, the most intriguing and enlightening part of this structure was the way it shifted, from one chapter to the next, from a view of the art from the outside (the perspective of the collector or the critic, say) to the inside (the creative process itself.) So, a chapter about the "crit" process at CalArts is followed immediately by one about the vast artworld schmoozefest that is ArtBasel (with the NetJets booth and the omnipresent champagne). Thornton has an eye for that kind of telling detail that only the best journalists possess and a knack for knowing (most of the time) how to use it best. For instance, in the studio visit chapter, she spots the passports of Blum and Poe are crammed full of visas and entry and exit stamps -- not just a random observation but one that reflects the global nature of the art market itself, which requires its participants to dash from visiting a collector in Russia to an art fair in London and on to visit a studio in Beijing. The only downside of this "ethnographic" approach is that sometimes the details that she observes and includes as a result of this feel less useful -- we don't care how heavy her handbag begins to feel at ArtBasel, or how the Japanese car drivers in Toyama jump to open doors for visitors so that no fingerprint mars the shine on the car. I've attended a number of Christie's auctions, stuffed into the uncomfortable press section that Thornton describes so accurately, and watched the bidding process. Reading this section, I felt as if I were back there again, experiencing the moments of boredom and tension that she chronicles so compellingly. There is no disconnect between my experience and her portrayal of it -- just additional level of background detail that I had never appreciated before (such as the fact that Christopher Burge has nightmares of being caught naked or without his sale "book" in front of an audience of a thousand angry would-be bidders). The only area in which Thornton fails to deliver is describing the creative process itself in a way that the average reader will find comprehensible and compelling. But that, I suspect, is as much due to the inherent difficulty

Those interested in entering the frenetic international art world, or simply interested in its current goings on, should buy and read Sarah Thornton's book. It coupled with "The $12 Million Stuffed Shark" by Don Thompson would be a great two volume present for any aspiring artist, museum curator, or art-gallery owner of your acquaintance. Ms. Thornton has a good ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for the telling detail. She, while quite capable of the pointed comment, is obviously fond of most of the various people who derive their living from art at the edge and is quite respectful of their work. (I personally would much rather possess one of J.M.W. Turner's paintings rather than any two of the art works by recent Turner Prize contestants. The Turner Prize contest being described on one of the seven days referred to in this book's title and named for the great English painter of seascapes.)

Sarah Thornton's book offers an attentive, ethnographic eye to art, artists, and the world in which they exist. She writes clearly and with great attention to detail not only to the art, but the people and super-sized personalities that they house. This and her access to many of the major art events in the world (Basel etc.) kept me turning to the next page. At one point I was a little wary of her comparisons of art to a sort of religion for some (thought it was overstated), but her arguments are strong and persuasive and she's definitely changed my mind. Also, the reader doesn't finish this book with a full understanding why some art is valued as much as it is. (But honestly, I didn't expect this. That's an answer we may never have.) All-in-all, I have to agree with the Publisher's Weekly review above on auctions and the book as a whole. Thornton truly offers an "...elegant, evocative, sardonic view into some of the art world's most prestigious institutions." $12 Million Stuffed Shark was the book that started this whole art book kick I'm currently on and I had to know more about the hidden quirkiness of this ever-growing area of interest. This was the next must-have on my list and I wasn't let down. Highly recommended.