tom and i had planned on going to the all new, re-designed, re-shuffled, re-priced moma this weekend but we never made it, and seeing as how there was nothing on any of the internets i deemed worthy of posting, i decided to search around and look at some art. in my travels i came across artnet’s 300 most requested artists list. artnet is essentially an art market designed to funnel you and your wallet toward the art which interests you. so i guess the 300 most requested list reveals, in it’s own humble manner, the artists people are most interested in paying for a piece of.

the list includes pretty much everyone you’d expect i suppose, but i took the time to click through all 300 and the cumulative effect is a bit discombobulating. seems equal parts crowned and sainted masters, smaltzy romantic, clever new-school, and, well, “simply available” i guess. make no mistake mixed in with the great art unboubtedly present is some very ugly art. seeing as how the only work included here seems to be work readily available for sale, it’s no surprise really, but hey, to each his own right? who can afford a 20 foot canvas painted in 1948 anyway unless it’s an ugly one?

one thing i can say for sure after looking through this stuff, the surest way to get included in a list with the heavies is to take nude photos of women. seriously. whether dead-pan, dramatic, or gussied up, it seems to be that simple. there is some extremely “magazine rack” level photography included here. but again, to each his own. 

i was happy to see mixed in with the barney’s, koons’, warhol’s, and hirst’s some of my current and also lapsed faves were present: walton ford, matthew ritchie, uta barth, bill viola, amy cutler, joseph cornel, andy goldsworthy, good ol’ lucien of course, barry mcgee, john currin… even inka essenhigh and lisa yuskavage made the list. the fun part was coming across interesting stuff from people i’d never even heard of, like photographer elger esser whose work is gorgeous (though artnet does not show the best of it unfortunately). all in all a nice one stop window shopping experience, though again, since the images are all of work for sale, in many cases a particular artist’s best work is not present. but hey, still fun to look.

also here’s artnet’s full, and i mean full, list of artists. they even have adami! it’s sunday, take a stroll, enjoy. and hell, if you’ve got a bunch of cash to blow, buy me a walton ford.