"An Object of Beauty"

November 24, 2010

Steve Martin made an appearance this evening at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square, a few blocks from Cardozo. Martin read from his new book, An Object of Beauty. The book offers promising new reading material for art lawyers in NY…

The book takes place from 1993 to 2009, during “the greatest inflation of the century” – the art market inflation. It is about a young woman, an ambitious art dealer who starts out at Sotheby’s and ends up opening her own gallery in Chelsea.

Martin refused to reveal who he thinks the most overrated contemporary artist, because they are still living… However, the book pokes fun at Warhol, who “nested into art history like a burrowing mole”. Martin said that he bought his first major work of art in 1968 for $125. It was an Ed Ruscha print of the Hollywood sign. When he left Hollywood, he sold it for a much larger sum of $625, and thought “I love this art stuff!”