When Rubbing Two Pennies Together

The Art Newspaper's recent article "Sign of Things to Come? New York Art Market Shows Evidence of Weakness" comes as no surprise given the proliferation of "Wall Street Crisis" headlines (now coupled with bailout plans), rising unemployment statistics, and other financial adversities. Though writer Melanie Gerlis recognizes a historically “loose correlation between the wider economy and the art market,” she goes on to propose that today "...the art market can no longer withstand the pressure of the surrounding economic turmoil." Philip Hoffman, founder of the UK's Fine Art Fund, is quoted saying "There will be a tightening of belts." Almost a year ago, an article in The Economist, titled “What Crisis?” disclosed a collective figure of $641 million in contemporary art sales by Sotheby's and Christie's in New York. Concluding on a pessimistic note, however, the article read “…triumphalism obscures the simple truth about markets, which is that what goes up also comes down.”

When forced to tighten my financial belt, I try to reduce my food expenses by eating out less and using the items in my cabinet that have begun to collect dust: currently a very mature can of puréed pumpkin, instant cocoa mix, brown sugar, and instant oatmeal. Of course, these are the things that sound somewhat complimentary. Never mind the canned tuna, vegetarian baked beans and garlic croutons. I turn to my fridge: Greek yogurt, organic fat free milk, Fuji apples, frozen bananas up the wazoo, and some really fuzzy blueberries.

I google “ingredients” and find AllRecipes.com, one of several sites that allows you to enter a list of food items that you wish to use--in this case, pumpkin, yogurt, and bananas--alongside a list of ingredients that you don’t want to use or just don't have around. I click "GO" and the site returns a recipe for an Apple Pie Smoothie:

Makes 2 servings:

2 (6 ounce) containers vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin pie filling
1 banana, broken into chunks
2 cups apple juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 dash ground nutmeg

Sounds like something to try for breakfast, but I have to do a bit of substitution.

Makes about 1.5 servings:
1 (6 ounce) non-fat Greek yogurt
¼ cup pumpkin pie filling
1 frozen banana
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
1 cup organic fat-free milk

1 scoop Gold Standard 100% Whey French Vanilla Crème protein powder**

Just blend and pour. Oh, if everything could be as good as this smoothie (which oddly still tastes like apples). Artnet Magazine reports that 16 Abstract Expressionist drawings owned by the head of Lehman Brothers, carrying a total presale estimate of $15 million-$20 million, will be auctioned on Nov. 12 at Christie’s New York; the Contemporary Art Museum in Honolulu has laid off a large number of staff due to "the drop in market value of the museum’s endowment"; and there are still effects that remain to be seen in both the for- and non-profit sectors.

*Spices can be pricey. Many 99 cent stores in NY sell jars big enough to last an entire recession.

** Consumed post-workout.

Pictured on top: Visit the online store of Global Exchange for a fair trade version of these chocolate coins.