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Writer's pictureVioletta Skittides

The Art World: An Intro to Our Blog


Being notoriously opaque, the art market is the second largest unregulated market after drugs and guns. There is little oversight, and players can get away with unethical behaviour...


In big commercial galleries, buyers often have no idea who is selling and at what price. Most art dealers conduct their sales in private, so even less is known about who acquires what, and at what price.


Although auction houses are meant to create more transparency through public sales - many art pieces are sold privately behind the scenes.


In short - few records are made public about sales, buyers and sellers.


The lack of transparency is a safe haven for fraud and criminal activity. Because the art industry allows large cash transactions, those looking to launder money find that buying paintings is the ultimate way to do their dirty business.


For example, when the Mexican government passed a law in the early 2010s to require more information from buyers, as well as information on final prices achieved, sales plummeted 70% in less than a year! Many speculate that was because Mexican cartel rings were the biggest buyers in the industry.


Another criminal activity is forgery, where professional imitators replicate famous paintings which are hard to distinguish from the originals, which then get sold to individuals for high values. A big recent fraud case is the Knoedler case, which we discuss in more detail in a different blogpost!


The above issues naturally make us curious about this big unknown art world. Art and the City will try to expose and give you some insight of what could be happening behind the scenes!


Other than that, we aim to make this blog fun and interesting for everyone. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride!


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