Understanding modern/contemporary art
HBO’s ‘The Price of Everything’ (2018): a documentary by Nathaniel Kahn
A detailed critical study & review
As so often with documentaries that try to come to terms with contemporary art, the real subject seems to evade capture. The title suggests we are in search of something like an ‘understanding of value’, meaning that behind the astronomical prices currently being realised for works of art, there is a perception that buyers are not so much interested in the works themselves, only in their asset-worthiness. In other words, no one really cares anything about the art, only about the money.
Not an easy idea to explore visually, but Khan’s plan is to let the facts speak for themselves. So he documents key aspects of the moneyed artworld by showing successful artists and their artworks interspersed with interviews with a variety of relevant experts and dealers, all the while leading up to an anticipated Sotheby’s extravaganza (c1:20:00). This is fine as far as it goes, but the problem is that none of…
