The Art Merry-Go-Round portrays the New York art scene in its heyday.
The eighties were a horn of plenty: SoHo became the fairground of
contemporary art and has never seen so many artists clamoring for
attention, so many dealers hunting for the latest trends and so many
collectors eager to buy.
THE ART-MERRY-GO-ROUND examines the network of successful,
emerging and fringe artists and their relationship with collectors,
dealers, curators and critics; it reveals the rules and codes of a closed
and almost secretive subculture.
The film features major dealers such as LEO CASTELLI, ILEANA
SONNABEND and MARY BOONE. Among the leading artists taking part
are JULIAN SCHNABEL, a big success story, who demonstrates how
Warholism functions. JEFF KOONS who everybody knows as a
phenomenon.
He does everything to stay in the public eye. Are his
masterpieces junk, or do they have a meaning. ROBERT YARBER, a
rising star in the Sonnabend stable, uses an obvious element of horror.
JACK WHITTEN, a black artist with distinguished work was never
accepted into the system, reason: he couln’t be hyped as a young
primitive like Jean Michel Basquiet, who died at 28 on an overdose.
THE GUERILLA GIRLS, calling themselves the Consience of the Art
World, attacking the hip-o-crits of the scene. CHRISTIAN LEIGH and
DONALD KUSPIT, both influential curators point out how the system
works and what forces operate to propel an artist towards stardom or
back down into oblivion.
