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Neoliberal Marketization of Global Contemporary Visual Art Worlds: Changes in Valuations and the Scope of Local and Global Markets

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Art and the Challenge of Markets Volume 2

Part of the book series: Sociology of the Arts ((SOA))

Abstract

Neoliberal marketization has helped in the rise of a new art market as the influx of new money from both geographically new markets (i.e., Asian art markets) and a new group of art buyers (i.e., art investors) challenged key practices of the traditional art world in terms of valuation and consumption. This chapter illustrates how recent market change(s) in the contemporary art market expedite the reordering of status in contemporary art. Moreover, marketization, through commensuration and financialization, has made the cultural order in global art world less significant especially in newly emerging art markets. Focusing on the mechanisms and practice changes, the author shows how marketization has changed the conventional valuations and consumption practices in art markets, and created a growing interest in Asian contemporary art markets.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to an interview with Bae, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Christie’s Seoul, Korean collectors were the only ones among Asian countries who bought major contemporary artworks since the 1980s, such as early Roy Lichtenstein or Gerhard Richter’s works, while Japanese collectors, mostly corporate collectors, were mostly focusing on Impressionism and modern art instead of contemporary arts . Also, the Japanese art market had suffered from the country’s economic stagnation from 1990s on and remained subdued, and did not become a player in the emerging global art market expansion.

  2. 2.

    Many art museums and art-gift companies once tried the mass production of old-masters’ works and focused on developing better quality of reprinting, including three-dimensional printing. However, this effort in mass production has waned, as it manipulates the value of original works.

  3. 3.

    Sometimes, it also occurs regardless of the price range of the artist.

  4. 4.

    The Mei and Moses database of art indices was acquired by Sotheby’s, a multinational international art broker, on October 27, 2016.

  5. 5.

    ArtTactic’s stated goal is “a progressive art market analysis firm that offers dynamic and bespoke market intelligence on the fast-paced and ever-changing global art market” (ArtTactic 2016 website: https://arttactic.com/about-us/).

  6. 6.

    This was why, initially, some art professionals raised questions about the reliability of the numbers as these were often derived from scientific measures and also operationalized concepts including commensuration, which is new to the art world. However, the data and the reports produced from these service providers are now regarded as an important source to assess art markets and their trends. Nowadays, even galleries and artists regularly check the databases and update their own information on these websites because they know collectors, curators, and dealers are checking these websites. Also, as part of my pilot research, I collected information about 50 randomly chosen artists from their websites and checked how much their information varied across different service providers. The result was very similar, especially on their market outcomes and success, while these outlets might have different foci on artistic achievements indicating that they had additional and proprietary​ information on exhibitions or acquisitions.

  7. 7.

    Shin et al. (2014) empirically showed the contrasting views between market and artistic value, especially during the time of rapid market expansion. This is partly due to the fact that art professionals highly value the discovery or rediscovery of an underestimated artist than the adding value to an already famous artist.

  8. 8.

    Primary market indicates the galleries, art dealers, and museums where the artworks are sold for the first time, and secondary markets, often called auctions and fairs, are where the secondary sales from collectors also occur.

  9. 9.

    According to Yeon-Hwa Joo, a formal chief curator at the Hyundai Gallery Seoul, the pricing mechanism in Korea does not exactly reflect auction success as a source of market status the way that the international markets do. Korean collectors discount the temporal and extreme success in auctions based on the experience of traditional “ho” pricing, the standardized pricing system, and the seniority valuation, a similar concept known as deferred success of artwork (Becker 1982). Collectors often pull the extraordinary or exceptional success down to average levels. She explains: “Artists should not depend on the highest price in auction to set their pricing strategy because Korean collectors and galleries still believe in the standardized pricing system; so even if the artist tries to raise the price of his/her artwork because of auction results, the audience would accept only the general and incremental price increase patterns.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Social Science, New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Kangsan Lee

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  1. Kangsan Lee
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK

    Victoria D. Alexander

  2. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Samuli Hägg

  3. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Simo Häyrynen

  4. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Erkki Sevänen

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Lee, K. (2018). Neoliberal Marketization of Global Contemporary Visual Art Worlds: Changes in Valuations and the Scope of Local and Global Markets. In: Alexander, V., Hägg, S., Häyrynen, S., Sevänen, E. (eds) Art and the Challenge of Markets Volume 2. Sociology of the Arts . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64644-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64644-2_3

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