"This is business, it ain't art history". That line, from a deputy chairman at Christie's, sums up a lot of what this entertaining book is about. No one expects the prices paid for contemporary art to reflect any kind of 'intrinsic' or purely 'artistic' (much less aesthetic) value, and Thompson's systematic traversing of the processes of branding that lead to artists' and their works' valuations, through the interactions of dealers, auction houses (especially the two big ones, Christie's and Sotheby's), collectors, museums and critics - via auctions, private sales, galleries and art fairs - is illuminating. Saatchi and the Gagosian loom large, also Damien Hirst, with some attention also given to Koons and Tracey Emin (none of whom I particularly like).
