In the encyclopedia of one-hit wonders, The Buggles can find themselves in the volume under ‘B’, with an exception, however, that forms a nice footnote in musical history- the video of their one hit, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was, if memory serves, the very first ever shown on the infant MTV. Check my facts before you repeat this in seeking to amaze your friends and stupefy your enemies. The segue to English antiques and what follows is more the heart of the matter and, because all my own opinion, requires no fact checking.
As with The Buggles’ lyrically describing the waning fortunes of a radio performer the result of the burgeoning popularity of TV, in the antiques and art trade we see antiques and fine art fairs that were for years wildly popular now in, shall we say, a state of flux. Fine art fairs, antiques fairs, modernism fairs, ceramics fairs, and on and on, all have had a struggle, with dealers finding it tough sledding, with spotty fair attendance, making either at-show or follow-on sales. Just as the radio star found his fortunes affected by changing technology, my earlier blogs have linked the trouble with fairs to the internet, with shopping online constituting an all-day, everyday virtual antiques fair. I am nothing if not opinionated.
And opinionated my analysis has been, because it fails to take into account the manifold, should I say myriad, or should I say nearly infinite factors associated with the present albeit slowly abating economic malaise. Everyone in the world who is a part of the money economy has been impacted, and I don’t just mean impacted in the sense that they have seen less money flowing through their hands. People have been frightened in a behavior altering way that no one I know has ever experienced, making it nigh unto impossible for clients to decide to purchase something they would really like to have. The flip side of this is, clients do not seem to want to say ‘no’, either. Optimistically, it seems to us that prospective buyers themselves wish to remain so, and not foreclose any notion that they might make a purchase when they are feeling sunnier about things.
‘Optimistic’ I say in calm reflection, but frustrating in the daily experience, as clients up in the air about purchases leave dealers there, too. Still, this is the time of year, every year, when people run out of money, for many prepaying expenses in December for tax purposes and deferring income into next year for the same reason. Design projects are on hiatus, as no one wants to be painting the living room during the time the family might just be assembled in it.
If we can, let’s enjoy the season. The fine and decorative art trade typically emerges phoenix-like from the ashes of the holidays. Ask me toward the end of next month if video has killed the radio star.