My shopping bag

I went to Frieze today. I couldn't afford any of the works up for sale, but I did go home with 'The $12 Million Stuffed Shark'.

When the book was published in February, The Economist's Art.view blog wrote:

A new book by an economist named Don Thompson entitled 'The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art and the Auction Houses' ought to be required reading for collectors intending to wade into well publicised contemporary art auctions like the one Sotheby’s will host on February 27th. It ought to be, but it won’t, because it is out of tune with the hype that accompanies these sales.

Two of Mr Thompson’s observations are particularly telling. First, only half of the modern and contemporary artists listed in Christie’s and Sotheby’s catalogues 25 years ago are now offered at any major auction. And second, of the 1,000 artists who had serious gallery shows in London and New York during the 1980s only 20 were shown in comparative venues in 2007.