Some Musings on the Market

Paul McCarthy, Tomato Head (Green), 1994

One of the many pleasures of living in New York City is the presence of major auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, whose previews provide free and relatively unconstrained access to impressive artworks. This week I spent some time at Christie’s, where Paul McCarthy’s larger than life take on Mr. Potato Head, Tomato Head (1994), one of an edition of three, was on view before being auctioned off with other works from the Peter Norton collection.

Viewers are permitted to get close—sometimes perilously so—to the works. I had to maneuver awkwardly around the scattered pieces of Tomato Head—including parts never imagined by the makers (or consumers) of Mr. Potato Head—to get a good look at Christian Marclay’s Guitar Neck (1992), an assemblage of seven record album covers hung one above the other to form an elongated … you guessed it … guitar neck. Guitar Neck is the kind of art a fourteen year old would think was cool, and would probably make, if fourteen year olds still owned records. Estimated at $60-80,000, it took in a whopping $266,500, further evidence, in case anyone needed it, that the art market is doing just fine. In fact, Tomato Head, which was estimated at $1-1.5 million, sold for just over $4.5 million (gulp). Installed on the wall beside Tomato Head was a concave, stainless steel disk by Anish Kapoor. These are strange bedfellows, these two works, and Kapoor’s austere minimalist mirror turned Tomato Head on its head, as if to rebuke McCarthy for his intransigence.

The atmosphere at a preview is charged in a way that a museum visit never is—these things are for sale! Overhearing snippets of conversations and filling in the blanks imaginatively is part of the fun. A collector suggests the mantle as a good location for a sumptuous wall-mounted sculpture by Josiah McElheny; her art advisor (perhaps?) suggests the work would be better hung at eye level, as it was at Christie’s. One smartly dressed woman gives another a lesson on Glenn Ligon—potential buyers or art tourists, like me? A small group of people gathered in the center of a gallery—investors discussing an opportunity, or tourist-tourists? (The latter, as it turned out; next stop, Times Square!)

This is a place of commerce, which can scarcely be forgotten amid the price tags and frenetic staff; but the outrageousness of the prices neutralizes the atmosphere somewhat, at least for me. I’ve sometimes wondered how the experience might differ if I were acquisitive and capable of satisfying that impulse. Just this week while in Savannah, I was put to the test, albeit under rather different circumstances. The Savannah School of Art and Design has a wonderful gift shop, filled with interesting objects designed by its students and faculty. I found myself drawn to a beautiful little print; its price—under $100. And just like that, appreciation turned into acquisitiveness. Maybe it would look good above my desk.