Originally Posted by
Brian Ellis
I've never read Guilbaut's book and don't plan to if he seriously suggests that abstract art was an FBI plot. The two best books I've read about the world of contemporary art in general, and in particular how art "isms" start, become "in," make people (mostly dealers) rich, and then go into hiding when it's time to find a new one and start the cycle all over again, are Tom Wolfe's "The Painted Word" and Calvin Tomkins "Off the Wall." Both make the point that contemporary art at its highest level is a world that consists only of two very very tiny groups, those who get rich selling it and those who are already rich and so can afford to buy it. Everything and everyone else - critics, publications, museums, etc. - exist to serve these two groups. Of course they serve their own interests as well - if not for the two primary groups the critics would have no jobs, the magazines would cease to exist, the museums would be limited to showing the same old stuff over and over, etc. etc. - but that's just a happy coincidence.
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