Germaine Greer on the Art Mafia

Writer, academic, commentator, and feminist provocateur Germaine Greer, is no stranger to controversy. She’s just written some musings on the nature of contemporary art published by the Guardian newspaper, and while we don’t agree with all her points - it’s still a worthwhile read. In her article on the new philistinism in art, Greer wrote:

"(...) perhaps that's the way to know the 'good' artists. They will be the uncollectables. A good artist is beyond fashion, out of reach of the art mafia in their black Bentleys, intensely vulnerable but - we hope - incorruptible. Not so long ago, artists survived on the dole; now they have to work harder on selling themselves and their product than on the art process. Perhaps we should begin to think in terms of ensuring that our young artists are free to work, and have space to work, by paying for them rather than their product. Heaping fictitious value, otherwise known as glamour, on saleable art for elite collectors is the high road to philistinism, and the Frieze Art Fair is what you get."