The Deal of the Art w/ Alexander Shulan

Lomex Gallery owner and operator Alex Shulan discusses his early days of buying Bitcoin; what it means to say “you can only be an artist once”; the big post-COVID art bubble and how it popped; dangers of art world speculation; Dean Kissick’s Harper’s piece; the difference between museums and galleries; controversies around Chris Ofili at BAM and Andre Serrano’s “Piss Christ”; the LD50 (which Noah misidentifies as LD40) “alt-right” art show controversy; H. R. Giger; Remilia Collective, NFTs, and collisions between art and tech; Jon Rafman, Jordan Wolfson, Seth Price and the meaning of “the fine art world”; why people in tech generally don’t want to buy fine art; why fine art is a special category of goods; Luigi, healthcare, and murder; how the tech world and the art world can be in better dialogue; why Alex hates Beeple; how Henry Darger differs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club; Warhol, Jeff Koons, and the aesthetic use of an art object’s commerciality; who’s more of a real artist—Alec Monopoly or George W. Bush?; and Jeffrey Epstein’s taste in art (Noah misidentifies a painting of Clinton as a painting of Bush). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marsreview.org/subscribe