Todd Gibson, who is sitting in for Tyler Green has chimed in on the inevitable art market correction. I agree Doig as a living artist is not worth 11 million and may not even be worth that much 30 years from now but it's quite possible the 72 million dollar Rothko won't lose that much value. It may have been the ridiculously high prices that made that painting available on the market in the first place. Sadly 72M is clearly out of range for the Portland Art Museum, yet as the first place to give Rothko a solo show (and the city where he grew up) it's a shame.. maybe someone will want a 60 million dollar tax write-off?

How a correction might effect younger artsts who sell for reasonable amounts between 5-$50,000 remains yet to be seen. There isn't one art market now, there are several and I suspect the new popularity of art has created a legion of new collectors who will continue to collect even if they have less $$$ to collect. That would translate to a weeding out of galleries in New York and a shrinking of art fairs at Art Basel Miami Beach... but I don't think it will collapse the sane parts of the market. In fact it might support it. Portland's art economy isn't driven by hedge funds either, it is real estate, the fact that we don't have sales tax and old fashioned interested in art for rts sake collectors. If collectors get scared of manipulated markets Portland will look more attractive as a more genuine art ecosystem too. Sure a large scale correction hurts most everybody but it wont be fatal for Portland. Christies and Sotheby's might have some rough seas ahead though.

Also, Portland Architecture's Brian Libby is soliciting some unsolicited design advice for Portland's developers. How about David Chipperfield for Multnomah County's new $150 million dollar project just north of the Ross Island Bridge hmmm?