The Easel

Archives: Spike

15th September 2026

The Art World Needs Better Fights

Is there an analogy between the art world and professional wrestling? The professional wrestling world is rich with good guys (“faces”) versus bad guys (“heels”) and other such narratives. Current politics also has a WWE vibe, so what about art? Not all artists are sincere – think those that specialise in “platitudes and evasions” – but rarely do we hear denunciations and trash talk. The art world needs to agree that “art itself matters enough to fight about.”