Sarah Thornton: Seven Days in the Art World

Written by Rachel Ogier

Sarah Thornton: Seven Days in the Art World chaired by Linda Tyler

Sarah Thornton is a big ticket author.  In addition to the ubiquitous jug of water which no one ever touches, someone dressed in black lays out two full wine glasses.

Chair Linda Tyler, dressed rather fabulously in sequins, introduced Thornton and her book Seven Days in the Art World.  The book, explained Linda, is “about power and status anxiety in the art world".

Thornton trained as an art historian, and gained her PhD in contemporary music (her thesis was on the rave culture of the 90’s). She now writes about contemporary art for The Economist, yet Thornton describes herself as an art writer, not a critic: “I thank god every day I’m not a critic… Passing judgement can be an obstacle to understanding".  Careful to portray herself as an observer, not a participant in the art world, Thornton  stressed that she does not pass judgement on the artist or their work. “I do interviews with artists and write about their work, but never say whether it’s good or bad".

She says she is a “rigorous and tenacious researcher”, a sociologist and an ethnographer, outside of the art world she writes about.  At the same time, she portrays herself as innovative, by telling the stories of characters rather than listing dry demographics.  I found this idea a little difficult: any work is tied up with the ideals and prejudices of the writer, and can never be removed completely.  To claim no prejudice is, I think, a prejudice in itself.  Indeed, Thornton spoke of her desire to make her characters look good - because she feels that reflects positively on herself.

Thornton felt some resistance from those in the art world when she began Seven Days, “there’s a strong ideology that you should only write about the work itself” and not about the system which surrounds it.  But Thornton didn’t want to write as a traditional art critic, commentating on egotistical artists and inanimate art objects.  Instead, what she find more interesting is the impact of the art work and its movement through the world.

Seven Days in the Art World has been touted as a sort of a deciphering of the often-opaque world of high art.  Thornton brought up the notion of a “hard buy”.  This involves the buyer proving that they’re important enough to own the work.  The person to impress is the gallerist who acts as the all-important broker.  Because, explained Thornton, “the buyer of the work effects the reputation of the work”.  Gallerists can get away with this because “for certain sought-after artists, there will be a long queue of collectors".

But it’s not all champagne and moneyed clients for the galleries.  Galleries now have to take on overseas artists - or else, horror of horrors, they appear provincial.  Thornton took this one step further and pointed out that “the term ‘local artist’ is semi-derogatory".  Even though Thornton notes that this is a “bad thing”, she still adopts the parlance by referring to one local artist as “an artist who lives here".  But one has to be a little delicate around artists. “Being an artist is not just a job, but a whole identity” said Thornton.

Thornton danced around a question from the audience – did she find the art world unwholesome?  “A lot of people love to loathe the art world” said Thornton, before concluding “I feel ambivalently… I have a genuine ambivalence".