Social Climbing Poem by gershon hepner

For dealers who make stars life may be tough
when stars they’ve made do not love them enough
to stay with them, and make attempts to sell
their work without them, saying “Go to hell! ”
Any social climber who succeeds
in summiting can likewise set aside
the sherpas who took care of all his needs
once he’s a star and stands the world astride,
and this applies to yet another game,
the one played by those husbands and their wives
who make each other stars and have no shame
when seeking independence in their lives,

Inspired by a review by Melik Kaylan of the marketing strategy of Damien Hirst, who is bypassing his dealer, Larry Gagosian, and selling his work such as “The Golden Calf, ” which is expected to sell for $100 million, directly through Sotheby’s: (“Hirst’s Marketing End Run, ” WSJ, August 23,2008) :

It’s certainly comforting that the most imperiled are the top-end headhunters, like Mr. Gagosian, who encouraged the cult of celebrity to supplant content and aesthetics as the foremost value in art. But beyond that, one wonders how it will affect the role of galleries when ultimate success automatically carries a built-in penalty: If they create a big enough star, the star will have no need of them. At the very least, dealers and gallerists will face a solid ceiling beyond which they cannot maximize profit on the investment they made nurturing artists. They simply cannot compete with the global footprint of international auction house, which offer artists instant access to world-wide markets.

8/25/08