Introducing The Art Journal

Welcome to The Art Journal, a new publication designed to make the art market legible.

Whether you’re a dealer, collector, artist, student or policymaker – or simply curious – we are here to help you understand how art actually works.

Galleries will tell you what sold. But why did it sell? A system exists to position, platform and represent artists. But who shapes, defines and determines it? How does it relate to private capital? Where does the money come from? 

To answer these questions, allow me to introduce the diverse journalism, analysis and opinion you can find across the publication.

For our market coverage, you can read biweekly investigations into the true workings of the industry from George Nelson – a fearless journalist reporting from London and Moscow. George has made a career writing about dodgy collectors, suspicious business models and criminal enterprises masquerading as legit dealers. His eye for a story someone does not want told will be a fixture of The Art Journal.

From London, Charlotte Jansen – a mother of three young children and a brilliant writer for The Guardian, Financial Times, Vogue and elsewhere –  is launching Help I Hate My…, a new weekly advice column that offers a hand to any art worker who is stuck in a troubling dynamic or unsure how to navigate a professional conundrum.

From Zurich, Dr Jeni Fulton’s Messy Business looks at the unusual ways the market functions beyond the big-ticket sales. With more than 15 years of experience across publishing, art fairs and data, Jeni cuts through the press releases to examine how representation and visibility rub up against digital disruption, cultural politics and the demands of the profit margin.

From New York, Gabriella Angeleti’s Private Views will take us into the crowds of Manhattan’s buzziest openings, exploring the realities of the world’s most storied gallery scene – one that might just be creaking under its own weight. On Substack, Ella Slater’s Side Eye charts how alt scenes are filtering into the artworld in ways largely unrecognised by the mainstream.

And, finally, for our Art Capitals series, we invite journalists, curators, authors, artists and creatives from cities in every corner of the globe to write street-level insights into their local scene, from Manila, Lagos and New Delhi to Belgrade, Kampala and Reykjavik and many more besides.

The art market is, by design, opaque and largely unregulated. The Art Journal wants to explore how value is created, understood and exchanged. To lift the paving stone and reveal the beach. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads and Youtube. Please read on.

– Tom Seymour, Editor, The Art Journal