Claudio Golonbek

On the 15th of August we welcomed the visit of economist Claudio Golonbek, author of the book, “Guide to Investing in the Argentine Art Market” (Rizzo Patricia Editor, 2002), and director of Proyecto A. In a rich and in-depth talk, Claudio addressed students, graduates and members of the staff using precise explanations and specific examples. “No one can say anything about a work – referring to the value of it – without knowing something about the life of the artist.” To back-up his declaration Claudio relayed the history of the blue canvas by Yves Klein (the painter who patented the color of the same work as International Klein Blue). At the same time he said, “it is very important to evaluate the aesthetic risk of the work. This implies,” he explained, “to evaluate the originality and challenges with respect to what has been previously produced, considering the technique and the form used, understanding the meaning and the objective of the piece.” At this point he spoke to us about Marcel Duchamp´s urinal among other examples. Finally, we need to consider the visual value of the work, – the value of the work itself. In this sense, analysis and conceptual development of the work is increasingly important. Given the large number of works that exist, this element is, what in the end, often makes the difference. Considering all of those factors we could define the symbolic value of a work. The price of the same object will fluctuate depending upon whether or not the market has a high demand for it, which has to do with how the society values the work of that artist at that moment. Many times appreciation comes later, i.e. artists in their lifetime don´t sell their art, or they sell them cheap because no one appreciates them enough. Later, sometimes after they have died, the works hugely appreciate in value. However, not all cheap works are the works of a future great artist, some are cheap because they are bad, and others because the artist could no longer continue their career. To know if we are in the face of a future great artist, “I consider it fundamental to evaluate the opinion that established artists have about the work, to analyze which groups the artist being considered belongs to, and where were they educated.” Formal study in the career of an artist is becoming more and more important in the valuation of their work, and without a doubt, Yale is at the top of that list. Golonbek emphasized, however, that this does deny the value and importance of spaces like IUNA in our own country, which provides a free arts education.