Contemporary Art: The $1,000,000 Fool
Kenny Schachter: "I never really understood the turn of phrase, late capitalism until it occurred to me that we buy apartments we don't inhabit, cars we don't drive, wine we don't drink, and art we never see, all in the name of investment.
The 51-year-old American painter Christopher Wool is the perfect artist for the extreme speculative times we live in when much art traded bides its time in storage between successive sales--as there is not much retinal pleasure to be gained viewing his works.
In a nutshell, there are basically only three types of paintings Wool has ever devised; one made-up of block letters, another with arabesque patterns, and the latest, blurry graffiti swirls, all stencilled or sprayed with black acrylic on a white ground." [...]
Christopher Wool, Untitled (fool), 1990
Enamel on aluminum, 108 x 72 in.
"The hyper activity surrounding Wool's market can be traced to a sale at Christie's in 1999 for the aforementioned FOOL work, which is enamel on aluminum (the artist's medium of choice) measuring 108 x 72 inches. The estimate was $40,000 - $60,000, in line with past sales by the artist at auction at that time. Private New York dealer Thea Westreich walked away with the piece for a then record $420,500 - in today's overheated market considered a steal..." Link
