Even more than these few world records, the huge prices achieved by artists working in the most diverse styles, from figural to abstract, in every possible medium, revealed an eagerness to buy reminiscent of the mood in 2007 and early 2008, when the market was at its highest.
Art is imagining; creating, mirroring, and provoking... all of which can and must be achieved by artists free to explore without the limiting effect of creative and cultural boundaries.
With a typically enigmatic installation that won high honors at the most recent Venice Biennale, the expatriate Conceptual artist Cai Guo-Qiang has unexpectedly achieved every artist's dream: he has provoked a debate, long overdue, in his officially stifled native country about the meaning of art, originality and the avant-garde.
Youssou N'Dour, one of Africa's most famous recording artists, achieved worldwide fame with his bands Étoile de Dakar and Super Étoile de Dakar.
Howard Brackett's joyous self-outing as a fully sentient human being is achieved by two artists adept at well-calibrated physical expression.
The recognition that the Museum of Modern Art achieved for the artists it championed, combined with the impact of its publications and exhibitions, made it a model for other institutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
In the meantime, the number of contemporary art buyers rose exponentially and the approach of these buyers came to be essentially dominated by the degree of prominence achieved by the artists.
What they need now is more intelligence and taste at the top, which might be achieved by including artists and art-world professionals -- several of them, with voting rights -- on the boards.
But none of these artists achieved the cross-racial impact (particularly on youth culture) of Janet.
The Hoysala artists achieved this with the use of Soapstone (Chloritic schist), a soft stone as basic building and sculptural material.
