I finally got to watch the HBO documentary “The Price of Everything” last night on Prime Video. It is about the manufactured world of modern art collecting, and how it came to be. I have always been curious about why people would pay millions of dollars for a piece of canvas with paint literally splashed on it, and the answer given in this film is not pretty. To sum it up for you: greed. The people in this film are so distant from the people that you and I likely know, it makes me think they aren’t even the same species. For example, talking about potential prices that art pieces will sell for in an upcoming auction as “230” or “250”, when they actually mean 230 THOUSAND dollars! And for what? The potential that the artist will become even more famous, not because their art is good, but strictly because their art sold for so much money, therefore giving them a “reputation” or “value” for resale! And so on, and so on! Several artists were interviewed in the film, and very few of them agreed with (but most of them went along with) this perverted system, where the revenue of so many people (dealers, auction houses, etc) depends on continuously inflating the prices. The artist who created the work will only have a chance at these outlandish amounts on its original sale, and does not benefit from the resale prices, except insomuch as now they will be able to charge more for future works! (Canada has actually proposed a change to the copyright law that would give the original artist (or their estate) a percentage of any resale of an art piece, for 75 years after its creation. This is still being studied, but hopefully for artists it will become law.) One artist in particular who was featured in the film was Larry Poons, who I must admit I had never heard of. He was quite popular in the 60s with his Dot paintings and could have made a lot of money by continuing to produce them, but he stayed true to himself and explored other forms of painting, more or less vanishing from the “in crowd”. Now aged 85, he continues to paint what he wants to paint, and at one point in the film, he states that he probably wouldn’t be still alive if he had gotten rich. Words to ponder! It is a harsh film, quite depressing really, especially if you are an artist. It makes you realize, if you hadn’t already, that there is no chance in hell that you will ever become remotely famous if you can’t or won’t “play the game” of the art dealers and galleries. It makes you realize that it doesn’t really matter if your art is any good, just so long as you have someone who pushes it and makes enough people believe that it is worth buying. It is a sad film also, in that art, which should be a thing of beauty, comes out of this feeling dirty and used, nothing more than a commodity in the pursuit of greed. I am glad I saw the film. I am also glad I am taking my own route. Would I like to be famous? Probably, but at what cost? I am glad I don’t have to make the choice between making art and making money. I have already made the choice, I guess, as I continue to use what time I have left to explore, discover and create. I encourage you to see the film, which you can find out more about here. It will not make you like the “art scene”, but it may make you appreciate what art you have, and might even make you go out and seek local artists, and support them any way you can. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
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