Forward | Jack Romm

An untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold on May 15th for $110.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction. To which the only sensible response is – so what? Imagine for a moment that it was not a painting that had been purchased, but rather a yacht. Suddenly the interest, for most people, is gone – “billionaire purchases expensive yacht” is not an exciting or novel headline. And yet, most major publications covered the sale, and the headlines read more as salacious than boring – suggesting that people do truly find something interesting about the price of art (or editors believe that their readers care). In any event, the question at hand becomes – why is the price of art in itself a newsworthy item? …read more

Image | untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat