Tuesday Links: The Art Market is Everywhere

What everyone is talking about: Felix Salmon takes issue with Jonathan Binstock’s report that painter Gerhard Richter is as powerful a market force as Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, or Andy Warhol. It’s a fantastic piece and a must-read for all. Over at the AFC offices we’ve been wondering why Binstock chose the painters he did. ArtPrice cites Chinese artists Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi as the top selling artists at auction, above both Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso (who ranked third and fourth respectively). Francis Bacon takes ninth, just one below Richter in total auction sales. How did de Kooning make Binstock’s list when he’s not even in the top 10 selling artists of 2011? We also questioned Salmon’s rationale for labeling Picasso, de Kooning, and Andy Warhol as “important” over “good”, though this is probably semantics. Salmon notes a lack of controversy in Richter’s history as evidence that the artist won’t ever be as important as Picasso, but Richter had his share of controversy, too, with the Baader-Meinhof paintings. As one commenter at Reuters points out, who’s important to history remains to be seen. [Felix Salmon/Reuters]

Meanwhile, Marion Maneker at Art Market Monitor points out a few flaws in Salmon’s argument, making the following compelling case: Salmon is mean to rich people; Salmon is often mean to rich people; it’s difficult to get upset about Salmon being mean to rich people; on at least two occasions, women have purchased valuable art; valuable art is a currency, not a commodity; Felix Salmon does not know what currencies and commodities are (Maneker, of course, keeps the secret to himself). Where did people learn to argue like this? Let’s see some definitions! [Art Market Monitor]

Alice Gregory worked at Sotheby’s for an unspecified amount of time and now recounts a moderately generic experience. A lot of what is imparted in the piece has been written before but if you have an hour or so kill, these 5,000 words will do it. [N+1]

Klaus Biesenbach explains why Kraftwerk deserves a retrospective at MoMA. [Hyperallergic]

I like this occupation: Occupy Museums invites artists to bring their art work to exchange with Armory attendees and each other. [Paddy Johnson]

Bad at Sports latest podcast: Canadian art legend Iain Baxter, sound and installation artist Bill Fountana, and promises of an all Canadian art posse [Bad at Sports]

The Brooklyn Museum’s benefit is coming up, and they’re using the occasion to honor women artists. Get your ($750) tickets now. [artnet]