Modern Finance and Modern Art: An Intriguing Connection

After numerous posts discussing the levels of inequality, I decided to mix things up a bit.  Tonight, I found an article via Bloomberg’s Op-Eds written by Mark C. Taylor, professor of religion at Columbia University. 

The article discusses Professor Taylor’s opinions on the development of art and capitalism.  The biggest points that Taylor brings up involve the comparison of intangible and tangible goods found in individual markets.  Financial capitalism takes majority of the actions via intangible goods, whereas art inherently requires the exchange of a tangible good, being the piece of art.

Data was taken from 2006 showing the approximation of private art sold in the market.  At $25-30 billion dollars in the market, people within the United States thoroughly appreciate art, especially in times of economic prosperity.  Taylor noted that many corporations have taken forth the path to purchase high valued are to further improve the image and aesthetics of their office buildings.  To add to this, some of these corporations are even willing to pay advisors or designers to help create this atmosphere.

What I find most interesting about this article is the very unique viewpoint that Professor Taylor is targeting the topic.  As a professor of religion, the presentation of his ideas compared to one of the typical economist or businessman is a change of pace. 

While he continues to discuss another example of an artist who has created a business out of a group of small time artists, I really wonder what the current standing on the private art market is since the Great Recession.  Also, another question remains about the people who are purchasing these pieces of art.  Many of the mentioned pieces in the article range in the multi-millions of dollars, which I can be safe to assume majority of us cannot afford.  Which really begs the question, are these luxury goods necessary to benefit our society?  And should these pieces of art have a more public display than merely in the hands of corporations? 

This article was one part of an excerpt that Professor Taylor has put in his book, “Refiguring the Spiritual: Beuys, Barney, Turrell, Goldsworthy”.  I really hope I have a chance to read the other part once it is released, as I can try to further connect the relativity between art and finance.

Reference:

1. Taylor, Mark C. “Is Modern Finance Ruining Modern Art? (Part 1)”. Bloomberg Op-Eds. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/is-modern-finance-ruining-modern-art-part-1-commentary-by-mark-taylor.html