Seven Days In The Art World: Chapter 3

This chapter spends a lot of time on the Art Collectors. They're people who are insanely wealthy, saying things like, "Only a century ago, no one had a car. Now people have two or three." They're not saying that in awe of how far we've come. In the context of the reading, it's said to demonstrate that the automobile isn't all that special to the particular collector.

Collectors seem to make their hobby a profession in itself.

"'When you first start collecting, you're intensely competitive, but eventually you learn two things,' explains Don. 'First, if an artist is only going to make one good work, then there is no sense in fighting over it. Second, a collection is a personal vision. No one can steal your vision.'"

Some very misguided collectors make it a religion.

"I'm an atheist, but I believe in art. I go to galleries like my mother went to church. It helps me understand the way I live."

And others just use it to talk themselves up, believing they're in possession of some sort of supernatural power.

"You have to have an eye - a savantish ability to recognize work that is symptomatic of an artist with real intelligence, originality, and drive."

But the book shows how much pull these people have, out-of-touch or otherwise, and how necessary they are to the art world.