And all I got were these lousy photos. Which I took myself on the long walk back to the Tube.
I call it 'Branch contrast i, ii, and iii'
I wouldn't go hanging them on the living room wall, but then I wouldn't pay £50 to £3,000 for them either.
Should I have been surprised by how much mediocre bourgeois art -- unimaginative landscapes, dull still-lifes -- was on show in those convention-style stalls? Probably not. There's certainly no dirth of mediocre stuff for sale in other artistic mediums, but with most other artistic mediums you pay your £5 or £50 (if it's a really hot ticket or you're in the mood to splurge) and are done with it. If it turns out to be a bad purchase, it doesn't mock you from the hall wall for the next 20 years.
There was some imaginative and provocative stuff there too, of course. But I guess what I'm getting at is that if I ever do decide to buy a piece of high-price original art I'd prefer that the experience was a little less like standing at the mall food court trying to decide between the Sbarro pizza or the dog-like chicken from the China Garden.
The people lining up in Row E to have their purchases bubble-wrapped would no doubt disagree. To which I can only answer: Wanna buy some photos?
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