This book scrutinizes the excesses and extravagances that the 21st-century explosion of the contemporary art market brought in its wake. The buying of art as an investment, temptations to forgery and fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and pressure to produce more and more art all form part of this story, as do the upheavals in auction houses and the impact of the enhanced use of financial instruments on art transactions. Drawing on a series of tenaciously wrought interviews with artists, collectors, lawyers, bankers and convicted artist forgers, the author charts the voracious commodification of artists and art objects, and art's position in the clandestine puzzle of the highest echelons of global capital. Adam's revelations appear even more timely in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations, for example incorporating examples of the way tax havens have been used to stash art transactions - and ownership - away from public scrutiny. With the same captivating style of her bestselling Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, Georgina Adam casts her judicious glance over a section of the art market whose controversies and intrigues will be of eye-opening interest to both art-world players and observers.

Georgina Adam has been writing about art and the art market for over30 years. She started in Paris, where she also studied Islamic art at the Ecole du Louvre, and contributed to Hali Magazine and The Antique Collector. She moved to London, where she wrote about art sales for The Daily Telegraph, and then to Japan in 1995, where she contributed to a wide range of arts publications.

On her return to the UK in 2000 she worked for The Art Newspaper as Art Market Editor, where she gained enormous experience in the everyday business of art, covering auctions, fairs worldwide and galleries. She wrote a weekly column for The Financial Times about the art market ending in 2017. She remains a contributor to the FT and is editor at large for The Art Newspaper. She also lectures and participates in panels and debates. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The International Association of Art Market Studies. Dark Side is her second book.