Can the art world keep a secret? xoxo

“No one likes a gossip!” Ugh. The phrase makes me shudder with the embarrassing school-time feeling of being told off in front of the classroom. But it’s true, being known as a rumour spreader is never a good look. The sharing of secrets can have awkward – even nasty – consequences; particularly when the full picture of a story is not clear, or there is no way to verify a scintillating piece of tittle-tattle.

But what if publicly or privately sharing ‘confidential’ information is part and parcel of an industry’s day-to-day operations? Often described as the last unregulated market, the art world is characteristically shrouded in mystery. Further still, being the first to learn about information can be a crucial way for those across the spectrum of the market – from journalists to gallerists and art consultants – to do business. Could it be that gossip greases the wheels that keep the whole art world moving?

“Gossip has been prevalent in the industry since I began my career in the 1980s,” says Jane Suitor of Found Art, a boutique advisory working with clients such as basketball player Kevin Love. “It’s not like gossip in the wider world. It’s much more complicated. You only really share information with those you trust, whose taste you respect. Once you’ve established that you trust a specific person – whether it’s the way they transact or the artists they are collecting or celebrating – there can be an exciting exchange, which might lead to discovering a radical artist early in their career.”

“These days, it’s become much more normal to pay for gossip, by subscribing to the Baer Faxt or paying for market reports from ArtTactic,” Suitor adds. Annie Armstrong, New York-based writer of the influential, and infamous Wet Paint “gossip column of original scoops” (available to paying Artnet Pro subscribers), says, “I think people love to read Wet Paint because it proves that the art market is a living, breathing ecosystem and not just a trade show.”

Armstrong’s newsletter is a weekly treasure trove of information in a succinct, snappy format, covering artists moving between galleries, celebrities attending exhibition openings, disputes between prominent collectors or which restaurants one is most likely to bump into the art world’s movers and shakers, and lots in between. “Even when it can be catty, I hope that Wet Paint can show that the art world has standards for itself and wants to see itself succeed in championing art, not just capital,” she affirms.

“Without gossip, not only would art journalism suffer, so would art,” concurs Kabir Jhala, Deputy Art Market Editor at The Art Newspaper in London. Jhala explains that many scoops are informed by “off-the-record information, typically relayed over a glass of wine, which often give a fuller picture of the industry and lead to juicy topics”.

However, Jhala heeds caution, explaining why stories must be carefully fact-checked. “The UK has pretty strict libel laws. The Art Newspaper can be quite cautious about publishing stories without a lot of factual evidence, as it positions itself as a serious journal of record. That being said, lots of factually sound news stories begin as gossip, and gossip hits at the heart of what makes a good story: subjects that are interesting, urgent and germane.”

Isabel Davies of Sam Talbot, a London-based cultural communications agency working with sought-after clients like Sadie Coles and Camden Art Centre, also emphasises a cautious approach to gossip. “We have to be really careful what we say to people,” she says. “Our job is controlling narratives. Whatever we say in a professional capacity is either representing someone or going to be published by a writer, so it’s often best to stay well away from gossip.”

“However, sometimes, I’ll frame something in a pitch to a journalist as gossip.” Davies adds. “Especially if we have bare bones information, for example, a gallery’s forthcoming participation in a major art fair, can be a useful way to pique a journalist’s curiosity.”

For Rose Easton, whose eponymous gallery is situated in Bethnal Green in East London, gossip almost functions like a metalanguage, allowing peers to communicate with a learned nuance. “Gossip is to ‘Art’ what slang is to language,” Easton muses. “The informal dialect; the way to really get inside the thing rather than trace the line around its more formal structure.”

“Gossip in the context of art is basically quiet luxury,” says Ana Viktoria Dzinic, artist and Chief Content Officer for System Magazine, who compares gossip to the restrained yet status-seeking stealth wealth fashion trend. “It’s a verbal signifier of information, which displays ‘I know something that you probably don’t'”

“That whisper into the ear at some art opening revealing a certain price, a future commission in the making at some institution, or the studio visit of a certain someone at a certain someone’s, give exactly the right amount of advantage to inform your practice as a curator, collector, gallerina or writer,” Dzinic expands. “In short, gossip in the arts is called insider trading in any other industry.”

A source who has worked at galleries including David Zwirner and Gagosian, explains that when starting out in the art world – an alien place to them with no art background in their family – gossip in the office was “a vital way to understand the complex dynamics of the competitive and fast-paced gallery ecosystem and get a grip on what’s going on.”

Overhearing the chatter of senior colleagues would not only provide answers to questions like “which clients are worth knowing” but also a way to learn from other’s mistakes without having to make them. The most important lesson you can learn early in your career as an intern? “Realising that people are gossiping, and you should be careful about what you say to who!”

I think back to my conversation with Annie Armstrong, who quotes philosopher Slavoj Žižek on gossip’s nature as a nuanced force: “There is something beautiful in gossiping… Gossiping can be done in a vulgar way, but it can also be done in a very loving way. It’s not a sign of denigrating or humiliating the other. Even such a low feature can be redeemed.”