Taking a chance? ... an auction at Sotheby's
The news that investors are seeking to speculate on the art market following the creation of a new art hedge fund, betting on an art movement or an individual artist's rise in value without actually buying a painting, certainly appears to be an ominous idea. What exactly would it be they are planning to speculate on? Would Tracey Emin's stock go up if she announced she was pregnant, her art being so inextricably linked to that predicament? Would Grayson Perry's go down if he gave up drag?
The problem with art is that it is essentially counter-culture and difficult to predict. Are these investors planning to haunt the East end or Brooklyn in the hope of picking up the word on the street. Of course not, they will rely on the press for their information, a fickle and awkward relationship at best. Would artists become even more media savvy than they are already, playing to the media in a bid for higher prices? Perhaps we could force all the YBAs into a death race along Margate beach - I like the idea of Gavin Turk shielding himself from angry shareholders with his heritage plaques because his stock had plummeted. And what would it do to Charles Saatchi? Would he loose his grip on the London art scene or would his investments continue to manipulate it, his shock jock tastes the barometer?
It would obviously be interesting to know the identity of the 15 artists the London-based Art Trading Fund have lined up to join their speculative venture, which plans to develop an art market index, much like the Dow of the traditional stock market. Their stated aims, which include the following - "We're not looking for risk. We look at each artist as a mini-business. We look at their track record for the last three years and if they have a following" - do fill the soul with depression.
No risk? Then why bother? The clever money is in the buyers who have taken a chance on a rogue outsider - Martin Kippenberger or Richard Prince for example, whose prices have escalated in the past five years some 700%. Who's interested in a reliable, safe artist anyway? Surely the idea is an anathema.
