Amazon: Gatekeeper of the art world?

 Dürer is selling his art on Amazon; Helen Frankenthaler too, but Hans Haacke 'did not match any products.'  The new 'gatekeepers' in the world of so-called fine art? Look at Amazon's new beta art site  and read George Packer's New Yorker article about Amazon (2/17/2014 issue). Who, in the future, will tell us whether a given artist/work of art is good? Will you buy an abstract painting from Amazon or Gagosian? Who will ship it free, tax free? Moreover, Bezos can hire even more art historians to talk the talk .... and, consumer reviews will surely be very instructive. "I looked at it twice and it stopped working."

Kennicott's blues

Sorry to see the otherwise admirable Philip Kennicott come down with art-critico-valetudinarianism: “… for art, if there is such a thing anymore." Yikes. There’s really nothing wrong with the art world that a good revolution wouldn’t fix (or maybe just a change in the tax code).

The price of art is higher than ever. What does that mean for its value?

www.washingtonpost.com

The art world has collapsed into the world of commerce, and an almost apocalyptic level of gloom now exists.