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antiquities
September 2007 
Sympathy for Antiquities Pirates
Posted on Aug 30th, 2007
by 
火狐 Li
火狐 Li
Today I went to my first interview for a job at an antiquities market. I arrived ten minutes early and slinked by some customers to get a feel for the art and artifacts in the room. The quality of these works were quite astounding, some of them were of a higher aesthetic standard than the one's I've seen displayed in Art museums.
Then the collector, a tall, but rather frail looking woman took notice of me. As I introduced myself to her, she blankly stated that she assumed I was a girl. Oops. Well, not quite. Apparently, women are usually better in handling the wealthy clientele... Then she stated a few key ideas about what she does; plainly put, this is not a research job, this is about sales and pandering the ego of wealthy clientele. She broke from her explanatory note, and drank some tea to soothe her dry cough. She warned me about the unruly customers who will come in and complain about how and where she acquired her works.
I whispered to myself in my mind, "well, of course! these works... are fantastic works that should be displayed and seen by all in national institutions..." Then, I responded, "well, I can understand why...", "You can?, well I can't..." she responded curtly...
She explained to me that she was a "runner" a dying breed of collector who would scour the field and rural villages for the best works of art to sell to the highest bidder. Runner, treasure hunter, pirate, tomb-raider, whatever you choose to call them, they have no reserves about cultural patrimony... to them an artifact acquired is as good as a piece of gold in their hand.
She coughed into her hand and clutched her stomach, explaining to me how she was planning to go on her run again in the winter to search for new objects in Southeast Asia, but that the doctors had advised her against it until she became well. I could not help but feel sympathetic watching the glaze of sorrow drown her eyes, as she seemed to reminisce about her past adventures. Suddenly it occurred to me, that I was cast under the spell as well-- the romantic life of a cultural pirate--travelling the world and scouring for treasure.
On the other hand,
the thought of selling such works made the art historian in me cringe and my subaltern soul cry.
This is the art market
From Sothebies to the small town art markets--the global market takes no pity on cultural patrimony... everything is commoditized.
And the sad reality is, without it Art historians would not have an audience to write for.
We cater to the aesthetics and understandings of the rich, while speaking of making art accessible to all. The relentless forces of the market drives everything and influences the livelihood of collectors and scholars in the West, and tomb theives and tribesmen in the developing world.
For my partner and I to survive,
I have no choice but to be complicit.
or do I?
The art objects and I will become good friends...
for the next few months this veritable pirates cove will be my refuge from school life.
Then the collector, a tall, but rather frail looking woman took notice of me. As I introduced myself to her, she blankly stated that she assumed I was a girl. Oops. Well, not quite. Apparently, women are usually better in handling the wealthy clientele... Then she stated a few key ideas about what she does; plainly put, this is not a research job, this is about sales and pandering the ego of wealthy clientele. She broke from her explanatory note, and drank some tea to soothe her dry cough. She warned me about the unruly customers who will come in and complain about how and where she acquired her works.
I whispered to myself in my mind, "well, of course! these works... are fantastic works that should be displayed and seen by all in national institutions..." Then, I responded, "well, I can understand why...", "You can?, well I can't..." she responded curtly...
She explained to me that she was a "runner" a dying breed of collector who would scour the field and rural villages for the best works of art to sell to the highest bidder. Runner, treasure hunter, pirate, tomb-raider, whatever you choose to call them, they have no reserves about cultural patrimony... to them an artifact acquired is as good as a piece of gold in their hand.
She coughed into her hand and clutched her stomach, explaining to me how she was planning to go on her run again in the winter to search for new objects in Southeast Asia, but that the doctors had advised her against it until she became well. I could not help but feel sympathetic watching the glaze of sorrow drown her eyes, as she seemed to reminisce about her past adventures. Suddenly it occurred to me, that I was cast under the spell as well-- the romantic life of a cultural pirate--travelling the world and scouring for treasure.
On the other hand,
the thought of selling such works made the art historian in me cringe and my subaltern soul cry.
This is the art market
From Sothebies to the small town art markets--the global market takes no pity on cultural patrimony... everything is commoditized.
And the sad reality is, without it Art historians would not have an audience to write for.
We cater to the aesthetics and understandings of the rich, while speaking of making art accessible to all. The relentless forces of the market drives everything and influences the livelihood of collectors and scholars in the West, and tomb theives and tribesmen in the developing world.
For my partner and I to survive,
I have no choice but to be complicit.
or do I?
The art objects and I will become good friends...
for the next few months this veritable pirates cove will be my refuge from school life.
Access: Public
Your description of the art world is so very true. It reaches across the board in ways that only those of us in the business can observe. I’ve been a professional florist since a very young age, and it’s difficult for people in our culture to appreciate such an art - it’s temporary. Flowers die fairly quickly. If I create a masterpiece, it may cost money that only a wealthy person could afford, and it might last only a week.
I’ve also worked with books for a long time. Antique, used, and new. One of the most frustrating things is how quickly books go out of print, and how many books libraries dispose of. A library, to me, should be a collector of books, where you can find information on any subject you can think of. But that’s simply not the case. Books that should be available to the public simply disappear to either private collections or the dump. Precious volumes that could be of interest to future generations, gone, sold for a price to wealthy collectors.
The fact is, human expression -art- is rarely accessable to the common man. When it is, they do not appreciate it. What should be available to anyone, be it flowers, antique furnature, or books, is available to the few who can afford them. I guess what’s frustrating to me is that our records of a culture, what will hold meaning to individuals in the future, disappears so quickly that no one notices.