How Hedge Fund Money Changed the Art Market | Robert Gunderman

Robert Gunderman, artist and former director of the Los Angeles gallery ACME, joins What’s My Thesis? for a conversation about his decades of experience working on both sides of the art world—as an artist and as someone running exhibition spaces.

Gunderman reflects on art school, experimentation, the history of Los Angeles gallery culture, and the importance of building community around artists. The conversation examines how galleries became increasingly standardized, the influence of collectors and investment thinking, escalating prices, art fairs, and the pressures that encourage artists to repeat successful work. Throughout, Gunderman returns to a central question: what happens when the structures surrounding art begin to resemble the commercial systems art once positioned itself against?