John Preston reviews The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art and Auction Houses by Don Thompson
Don Thompson has good advice for anyone who walks into an art gallery with even vague thoughts of buying a work of art. Ignore the girl behind the desk who looks at you with withering disdain and says, 'Can I help you?' in tones that clearly indicate she would much rather be knocking back a bracing draught of strychnine.
She is only there to reinforce the idea that art galleries are temples of high culture into which the man off the street should step with fearful...