Urban Art Association

i see, thank you markymarky.

yeah i agree, i wasn't meaning that she should be banned i was referencing the bit about the forum helping new artists.

find it hard to believe that she would have been banned for this

i was thinking it was a bit strange, what would the point of banning people be if they could still post as guest? surely the idea is to stop them posting at all.

i got this today from art market insight...


Damien Hirst – Caught in the avalanche [Jan 09]
The Damien HIRST sale at Sotheby’s on 15 and 16 September last was a brilliant and unprecedented event in the history of public auctions. Two days of frenzied bidding for 218 of Hirst's new works generated no less than GBP 111.4 million and a new artist's record when his Golden Calf fetched £ 9.2 million, thereby literally becoming the "worshipped icon" (golden calf) of the art adored by wealthy and fashionable collectors.

With hindsight, the autumn of 2008 – which saw a string of highly successful auction sales around the world culminating in the Hirst-Sotheby's sale – clearly appears to have been the peak of a now deflated speculative bubble. Indeed after the high media profile Hirst sale, the market changed direction… literally the following day. For example, if we focus on the top end of the art market (all works, all periods) we see that during 2007 and 2008 (before mid-September) 80% of the works offered at auctions with estimates over 1 million euros found buyers. However on 17 September 2008, i.e. the day after the famous Damien HIRST sale, only 55% of the works offered in this price range were sold. Moreover, for those that did sell, it is clear that buyers were determined not to overpay their acquisitions since before that date, 35% of the lots offered (all works, all periods) sold above their low estimate whereas after 16 September, this ratio fell back to 24% (ratio recorded at mid-December 2008).

The Hirst sale will therefore go down in history not just for having successfully used Sotheby's as a primary market outlet but also as the turning point for the market as a whole. But this has not given Damien HIRST any special protection: his bought-in rate rose from 11% to 55% between September and December 2008.

The credit crunch has initialised the worldwide economic recession and I guess it will be followed by a depression for the next one or two years. These steps are part of an economic wave movement just as well as the boom we have seen.
So without question the economical development will effect the art market and the art prices will come down.
After stock market crash in October 1987 we saw a poor wordwide economy for the following years. But art works has been sold at all times. Beginning in 1994 we saw an exploding worldwide economy and art prices raised, raised, raised... till they have been stopped in 2000 by crunching stock markets. Since 2003 we saw a strong gain in art market.

What I want to say: Don't worry, don't stoke fears, we will see raising art markets. That's the law of economic development.

art has & always will be a commodity

Fair enough on the first part, but I find your last point is meaningless. Remember that the art market is not recession proof and tends to lag behind the economic cycle by 12-18 months.

Yes we will see a raising art market, but raising from which level? Not today's that's for sure...

Just enjoy what you have got on your walls and resist the urge to load up on credit for art that may or may not be a good investment!