BLK BlackRock Inc

By Sarah Krouse 

The fifth floor of a prominent New York art museum is currently home to a wall of bologna slices, a carousel of dolls orbiting an iPhone-like screen and the words of BlackRock Inc.'s Laurence Fink.

The chief executive of the world's largest money manager is the focal point of an installation at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial, an event that is well known within the art world as a showcase of new work. The piece, titled "Debtfair," makes a case that the economics of American art are flawed because of artists' debt. BlackRock, the artists said, invests in that debt.

Occupy Museums, the group of artists and activists responsible for the exhibit, plotted the growth of BlackRock's assets on a 17-by-30-foot wall next to measures of student-loan delinquencies and a rise in the price of art. Near the ceiling is a trimmed 2015 quote from Mr. Fink that reads: "The two greatest stores of wealth internationally today [are] contemporary art [...and] apartments in Manhattan."

Portions of Mr. Fink's resume are also highlighted, including his role as a member of President Donald Trump's business advisory forum and his appointment as trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. He is also described as a "pioneer of the mortgage-backed securities market." The artists argue the collapse of that market "triggered the 2008 financial crisis" and call BlackRock the "world's largest shadow bank."

"I respect the artists' desire to express themselves and as an active supporter of the contemporary art world I look forward to seeing the exhibit firsthand the next time I visit the Whitney," Mr. Fink said.

Mr. Fink's prominent place in the Whitney Museum show is a sign of how BlackRock's sheer size is thrusting it into the public consciousness in a way that it wasn't before the 2008 financial crisis. The money manager controls more than $5 trillion in assets for investors ranging from large pension funds and endowments to individuals -- roughly $1 trillion more than its nearest rival. It was founded as a small fixed-income specialist in 1988.

BlackRock isn't a bank and didn't require a bailout during the 2008 financial crisis as many banking institutions did. But it does purchase debt on behalf of its clients. Fixed-income investments represent roughly 31% of its overall assets, or $1.6 trillion at the end of 2016.

The team of artists who created the Whitney exhibit formed from a working group created during the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011. One of its first members was Noah Fischer, who in October of that year posted a note online arguing that "we see through the pyramid schemes of the temples of cultural elitism controlled by the 1%." Mr. Fischer also teaches at the Parsons School of Design in New York and has a studio practice in Brooklyn, according to his website.

Mr. Fischer and two other artists said they chose BlackRock because the company's heft and leadership represent the beneficiaries of what they consider to be unfair economic and cultural systems. The firm, they said, is an example of Wall Street profiting at a time when ordinary Americans have seen wages stagnate.

Wealthy people can help create a market for artists hoping to sell their work, but the artists said they hope to call attention to a "collector class" of financial elites. These people, they say, acquire and stockpile art while also benefiting from investing in the debt artists need to pay for their work. BlackRock, they said, invests in that debt.

Mr. Fink "bridges a lot of the different worlds we're talking about," Mr. Fischer said.

Imani Jacqueline Brown, another artist who is a member of Occupy Museums, said Mr. Fink's quote about wealth "really hit home" for the group. "There's a very intimate financial system into which artists are drawn but never see any of the profit," the New Orleans-based artist said.

Their group targets other museums and institutions that it believes contribute to cultural inequality. The artists said their work was inspired in part by Gregory Sholette's "Dark Matter," a book that explores the economics and politics of contemporary art and stresses the importance of "work made and circulated in the shadows of the formal art world."

BlackRock and Mr. Fink are more recent additions to the "Debtfair" piece, which also appeared at Art League Houston in 2015. The exhibit now on display at the Whitney also shows works by artists who owe money to other banks. Logos of those banks, which represent different types of debt owed such as student and credit-card borrowings, are scattered throughout the installation.

One viewer said she was moved by the piece even if she didn't know all of the terms referenced.

"I can relate to it visually, but the whole concept of debt puts knots in my stomach," said Debra Rapoport, an artist and member of the Whitney who visited the exhibit. "I don't know what a shadow bank is." Shadow banking is a broad term that typically refers to nonbank lenders or firms that purchase debt while operating outside the banking system.

Another acknowledged that the financial crisis influenced his reaction. "I have a general mistrust of banks," and an aversion to debt, said Kris King, a 31-year-old who works at Nitehawk Cinema in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

But one visitor said the message was too harsh. "I think they've taken a shot at Larry Fink and BlackRock," said Jeff Coopersmith, founder of Columbus, Ohio-based Core Real Estate Capital, who visited the museum with his wife.

Christopher Lew, one of the curators of the exhibit who invited Occupy Museums to participate, said the piece fit well with the political bent of this year's show.

Curators treated Occupy Museums "the same way as any other artists" even though the group has been critical of the Whitney and other museums. "Their role as activists is to point to issues around museums."

Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.