Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World offers an overarching look at the art world, featuring influential artists and art world professionals who are making waves in creative fields.
The film is broken up into "Lots" which encompass a large range of topics such as the market, artists, dealers, and collectors. It offers insight and highlights the artworld's often self contradicting nature. The documentary explains that the contemporary art market has a global audience, where artists such as Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, and Marina Abramovic have succeeded in pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an artist. When viewed from a career building mindset, it presents an intriguing perspective on the inner workings of galleries, collectors and auctions, which facilitate and control how art gets bought and sold. Art fairs, equated in the film as gallery shopping malls, were described by Sarah Thornton as a place to take the "temperature of the art world." Blurred Lines also speculates on the effect that location has on each fair; how Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland is a different experience than Art Basel in Miami, Florida. The documentary also offers a few gems of artist-to-artist advice. Rashid Johnson offers a judgement on opportunities, saying "You gotta say yes until you can say no and once you get the change to say no, you should say it as often as you can."
Overall, Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World asks many questions about the mysterious and complicated dynamics of a market built on power plays and subjective values as much as it is on creative expression. As it states, the surest thing about the art world is it's predictable unpredictability! Watch it on Netflix.
