The Contemporary Fine Art Markets

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Plattner's article, 'A Most Ingenious Paradox - the Market for Contemporary Fine Art', reports trends in the North American contemporary fine arts markets and in the commodification of fine art that reflect a neo-liberal environment of considerable new wealth and the culture of consumerism. The author points out that Plattner's orientation is one of participant-observation; a person exposed directly to the phenomenon of local fine art businesses and those who produce for them. The paper concludes that the local fine art markets are well established and profitable and that its artifacts may indicate a great deal regarding consumer tastes and behavior.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
An Informal Ethnography
The Decline of Authority
Economic Anthropology and Fieldwork in Toronto
Concluding Remarks

From the Paper:

"Few consumers can know much of why one piece of fine art in a local venue costs more than another, as producers know that few seem to purchase with an eye to buying something to appreciate in value, as opposed to buying due to personal preference. In local and regional markets, the artists that Plattner refers to as identity producers can have an involved philosophy towards what they produce of which consumers need not know, featuring ideas of contributing to a total cultural heritage rather than pursuing artistic fame or monetary success."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Banks, M. (2001). Visual Methods in Social Research. London: Sage.
• Brown, B. (1994). Born in the USA - American Anthropologists Come Home. Dialectical Anthropology. 19: 419-438.
• Plattner, S. (1998). A Most Ingenious Paradox - the Market for Contemporary Fine Art. American Anthropologist. New Series. 100: 482-493.
• Robbins, R.H. (2006). Cultural Anthropology - a Problem-Based Approach. 4th edition. Toronto: Thomson Nelson.
• Schneider, F. and W. Pommerehne. (1983). Analyzing the Market of Works of Contemporary Fine Arts - an Exploration Study. Journal of Cultural Economics. 7: 41-67.

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