Today Tokyo has shown itself from the wet side, although the weather has been a bit back and forth.
With nothing in particular planned what better than to take the opportunity to get some insight into the art world? Not newly published but still ever so current, Don Thompson’s The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, The curious Economics of Contemporary Art, gives you the insight into why a New York investment banker would consider spending $12 million for a decaying, stuffed shark and how a leather jacket with silver chains attached could possibly be considered art where it’s thrown in a corner, titled No-one Ever Leaves. By the way, it sold for $690,000 at a Sotheby’s auction. We also get acquainted with auction houses, dealers and collectors.
Just think about it, if the stuffed shark had simply been named Shark would it have been as interesting as when titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, which supposedly forces the viewer to create meaning? Marketing genius. I only wish it was me. However, Hirst was not the first to display a shark. Already back in 1989, a golden hammerhead shark was displayed in E. Saunder’s JD electrical shop in Shoreditch, London. (Two years before Hirst’s.) This was followed by the same particular shark being displayed in the Stuckism International Gallery, London (2003), titled A Dead Shark Isn’t Art. Later Saunders advertised his shark for £ 1 million: “New Year Sale: Shark for only £ 1,000,000; save £5,000,000 on the Damien Hirst copy.” Needless to say, the shark didn’t sell but ignited discussions on the concept of art.
Another interesting read for a rainy day (from September 21st) is The Economist’s In praise of art forgery, The Emperor’s new pictures, Fakes say some interesting things about the economics of art.
This article mentions that “If the purchasers of great art were buying paintings only for their beauty, they would be content to display fine fakes on their walls. The fury and embarrassment caused by the exposure of a forger suggests this is not so.” What do you think? Ok to hang a fake as long as you don’t have to pay for the brand maybe?
Every-Other-Day By Anne 
Thanks for the tip, now the The $12 Million Stuffed Shark will be added to my reading list. Sounds like a curious book questioning the legitimacy of absurd pricetags and whether or not you really get the worth.