Task Sheet
THE BUSINESS OF ART
GUIDELINES: “RECENT ART WORLD CONTROVERSIES”
READINGS
1) Artnet News: “Here Are the 9 Biggest Art-World Controversies of 2022, From Climate
Activists Attacking Masterworks to A. I. Replacing Artists,” by E. Kinsella/T. Dafoe (December
2022):
2) Artnet News: “Here Are the 11 Biggest Controversies That Roiled the Art World in 2021—
and the Questions They Raise About the Future,” in: (December 2021):
TOPIC, PURPOSE, AND TASK
The Topic of this final essay is “Recent Art World Controversies.” As the two texts indicate,
the controversies range from climate activists attacking a Vincent van Gogh painting with tomato
sauce, to an Orlando museum director taking part in a scheme of showing fake paintings
presumably by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, to Hunter Biden selling his artworks for exorbitant
sums, and to artist Nan Goldin protesting against the financial entanglement of large cultural
institutions and the Sackler family, given the family’s prominent role in the opioid-crisis.
The Purpose of the final essay is to research, explain and contextualize ONE of the recent art
world controversy in order to explore the complex intersection of art, business, and politics now.
The Task is to write a minimum 3-page essay (see formatting guidelines below) about ONE of
the art world controversies discussed in the readings listed above, from 2021 and 2022.
FORMATTING AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
• • Your Final Essay must be a MINIMUM of 3 FULL text pages!
• • Your Final Essay must be 1.5 spaced, in Times New Roman, 12-point.
• • Please don’t leave large blank spaces (I know what white paper looks like! : )
• • Please include your name at the top of the first page. No cover page is necessary.
• • Your works cited must be on and additional page.
• • Add any relevant images such as artworks or news photos on an additional page.
SOURCES
Please use the readings above and find and use at least 3 additional sources on your
topic. Please reference your sources throughout your paper with footnotes, end notes,
or in the main text with parentheses. All direct quotes must be indicated with quotation
marks!
DO NOT CUT AND PASTE AND DO NOT PLAGIARIZE [see “Note on Plagiarism”
below].
A NOTE ON PLAGIARISM
Presenting another person’s work as your own, or deliberately failing to credit or attribute
the work of others (including if you find it on the Web), is a serious academic offense.
So, please don’t recycle from another course, don’t cheat, don’t use A. I. and write your
own genuine paper.
