To All News Agencies: Obscene Auction Results Are Not Art News

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Dear News Agencies, Newspapers and News Outlets,

This morning's news is full of reports about the sale of a Picasso painting for $179 million dollars. These reports are dominating the "Arts" pages of the world's newspapers and the "Arts" verticals of many websites. However, this is not an "Arts" story: it is a Business story.

Art is about expression: it was never intended to be an asset class. In the future, please report stories like this one in the proper section, which is Business. That way, real arts stories including reviews, profiles of artists and information about exhibitions will take their proper place on the Arts page. Stories about high-end auction results can and should be reported alongside stories about commodities transactions, the sales of corporations and fluctuations in the values of precious metals and pork bellies.

Stop confusing the public, as they are beginning to believe that art is something that should be detested. Thank You.