Damien Hirst-the artist who got $12 million for a shark packed with formaldehyde and mounted in a glass case-would probably be nobody if he had not been noticed by the right dealers and thus 'branded' to the super-rich as an artist of note. The text makes it clear that who wants to buy a piece of art and how much they are willing pay for it matter more than its actual content. Indeed, he notes, many of the pieces discussed-from Francis Bacon's disquieting studies of morbidity to Jeff Koons's glossy essays in camp-are not what most people would want to display in their homes or offices. Among the factors at play, Thompson avers, the artwork's quality is rarely prominent. Evincing astute knowledge of the arcane workings of high-end art galleries and auction houses, the author walks readers through the mechanics of how a contemporary artist's work comes to be regarded as worthy of notice. He bravely attempts to apply theories of basic economics and markets to the contemporary art scene, in which absurdity frequently rules.

This world has been fodder for mockery ever since Marcel Duchamp signed a urinal and proclaimed it art, but there's a whole lot more money at stake now, notes Thompson (Marketing and Economics/York Univ.). Kirkus Review Informative and occasionally hilarious look at the surreal contemporary art market. Lower-level undergraduates and above general readers. Written accessibly for an audience with only a passing interest in contemporary art, this volume offers enough insider knowledge and anecdotal narrative to satisfy experts as well. His analysis takes the reader inside the minds of those running the auction houses, museums, and galleries, but does not bog one down in technical details. Thompson (marketing and economics, York Univ., Toronto) hits upon the key question in the middle of this book: what is it about contemporary art that equates a difficult-to-live-with modern piece with several pieces by Impressionist masters? The author examines several reasons for the strange operations of the art market (without giving away the ending, a lot of it involves branding and self-promotion). Analyzing the market for contemporary artistic works requires throwing the axioms out completely or wholly reworking one's definition of rationality. Consumers will not willingly pay more for an item than the expected marginal utility is worth to them. Markets assign values for items based on relative scarcity and on marginal costs and benefits. CHOICE Review At the core of practically every economic model of human decision making is the assumption of rationality.

The $12 million stuffed shark