Jim and Mary Barr compile a list of quotes about the art market from Jerry Saltz’ New York essay, Has Money Ruined Art? My favorite is by David Hammons: “The system is making people offers they can’t refuse when it should be making them offers they can’t understand.”
Meanwhile Tyler Green points out Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff’s thoughts on the art market and how “it certainly has an effect on what I do”:
All the attention of it — how much money is paid for a Peter Doig or a Damien Hirst — distracts us from thinking about what the work is about. It’s amazing that these contemporary artworks are selling for as much money as they do, but I don’t think it necessarily helps anybody appreciate what’s interesting about contemporary art.