Abstract Part of October's “Art Communities at Risk” series, this essay examines key structural problems in the American art industry through the lens of class, tracing their origins back to the staggering prices and rents for commercial and residential real estate in New York City today. I expose the unspoken rules and taboos in the field that force American artists who want to pursue institutional or commercial art careers to live and make work in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The costs of living and costs of doing business for New York–based artists, as well as for museums and commercial galleries and their employees, are explored. Also unpacked: how the economics of both the city and the art industry combine to filter out and select against aspiring artists, curators, gallerists, and other arts workers who come from middle-class, working-class, or poor backgrounds. This is contrasted with conditions in the second half of the twentieth century, when artists from the baby boomer generation had access to cheap, large spaces at the center of the global art world. I argue that since the turn of the millennium, the exclusion of artists and curators who don't come from wealth has contributed to a dearth of exhibitions and art works that deal explicitly with class in the United States. The essay also compares circumstances in New York with those abroad, where foreign artists have access to larger studio spaces and lower overhead for production, allowing for the development of expansive, experimental art practices and the creation of large-scale artworks that fill the equally voluminous exhibition spaces in US and international exhibiting institutions. I suggest that New York City itself has become a core problem in American contemporary art and that the future for young American artists may lie in divesting from America's largest city. The essay concludes with a discussion of alternatives to the current paradigm including distributed, artist-led underground art and music scenes in the United States and Indonesia. The text draws on personal observations and experience accumulated over the last twenty-five years while working as an institutional curator and as an emerging and midcareer artist, as well as extensive background provided by years of conversation with peers and colleagues.
Josh Kline (Thu,) studied this question.