The Auctioneer Hits the Hammer by Chia-Lun Chang
A poem that depicts and criticizes the commodification of art.
From Prescribee (Nightboat Books, 2022). Copyright (c) 2022 by Chia-Lun Chang. Reprinted with permission of Nightboat Books.
From the author:
While working as a translator for Sotheby’s Asian Art Week, I was troubled by the comparison of artworks to stocks within the auction house history and industry. I wish to exhibit the absurd power dynamic between myself and the founder and spark conversation around the value of art.
For John Sotheby
Listen to the author read her work:
My ass burns northward after sitting behind the desk for twelve hours and hearing you shout that free coffee is only for bidders. John, have you heard of the floater program? Art history graduates wander to different departments learning art things and operation, receiving the highest minimum hourly wage, $14 and loitering six days a week. The job description indicates new employees aren’t supposed to maintain souls, no eating so their bodies are yielding. Will you apply? Will you go to Iceland, mother nature’s so-called prettiest? Are landscapes also fine art for sale? John, the art handler shared that he was lonely by eating meals at the empty round table. I, too, love the lonesome. I cried at the gallery because no one would visit while floaters gossiped about the new CEO like he’s their freshly dead neighbor. John, let me remind you of your name here in case you try to leave the chair. I learned to pronounce your name in ESL classes and always mixed you up with Mary. Nameless, none of the artists live close to 74th Street, they collect a summer in their paints for winters to pass through. After the 2008 financial crisis, you focus on Asian and Middle Eastern art. The Chinese faces twist in rage and fulfill the lobby, not because of a bull market nor being forced to travel nor what you wrested from their ancestors, but because your machine can’t read CUP cards. John, would you hire me as your assistant? You were a book lover who stole from libraries, I was an art appreciator and now a stock-cannot-affordee. John, you’re dead but your spirit is up to sell eternally, it is not fair. You’re only the nephew of the founder. Our love won’t last the length of an auction.
Chia-Lun Chang is the author of Prescribee (2022), winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize, named among the “Best Poetry of the Last Year” by Ms. magazine, and honored as a Poets & Writers debut poet. She has published three chapbooks: Sinkable Notion, An Alien Well-Tamed and One Day We Become Whites. Her recent work appears in Academy of American Poets, Granta, Washington Square Review, 2021 Best Taiwanese Poetry, and Brooklyn Rail. Chang has received support from the Jerome Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and the 2022 Sarah Verdone Writing Award from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Born and raised in New Taipei City, Taiwan, Chia-Lun lives in Brooklyn, where she teaches hybrid poetry at the Poetry Project.
Website: chialunchang.com
Instagram: @chiaseeschai
If you’d like to support the author, you can purchase her book Prescribee here.
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