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Why art is so expensive?
The functionality of Art is macro This automatically rejects it's immediate utility for consumption which is evident as you see how artists have usually hailed from privileged and bourgeoise circles. Even when they don't, they either end up being in those circles or their work being hung in spacesRead more
The functionality of Art is macro
This automatically rejects it’s immediate utility for consumption which is evident as you see how artists have usually hailed from privileged and bourgeoise circles. Even when they don’t, they either end up being in those circles or their work being hung in spaces which have associations with the bourgeois after their deaths.
In the current scenario anything that is even related to artistic or creative merits discouraged as unprivileged artists usually starve but art by the privileged is commodified. One of the prime examples are many “abstract artists” who sell their work for thousands of dollars despite of the lack of knowledge and merit in the artistic field but since they hail from upper class backgrounds their work gets the classist badge of excellence. As even the “labour” of upper class is more revered than some talented artist of unprivileged family background.
Then there is an entire occupation of “Art Investment” which commodifies art and uses it as “investments”. There are even jobs such as “art brokers” which sell art like stocks and bonds. They resell when these artworks gain higher prices. Art pieces are treated like commodities and assets. Van Gogh paintings are sold for tens of millions of dollars in this day and age, knowing how poverty stricken he was during his life this is even more disappointing. There are so many full-time artists/Van Goghs who create while struggling to make ends meet with cheap prices.
See lessHow can we understand the phenomenon of artists, writers, and musicians, such as Van Gogh, Dickinson, and Kafka, being underrecognized during their lifetimes?
Although there simply can't be a single answer as one has to keep in mind that the phenomenon has both cultural, critical and behavioral context. The simplest answer could be the repetitive behavioral pattern of intelligentsia and artistic landscape which always recognizes artistic genius of an artiRead more
Although there simply can’t be a single answer as one has to keep in mind that the phenomenon has both cultural, critical and behavioral context.
The simplest answer could be the repetitive behavioral pattern of intelligentsia and artistic landscape which always recognizes artistic genius of an artist after their death. This issue has been discussed time and time again by critics/poets such as T.S. Eliot who in his critically acclaimed essay “Tradition and Individual Talent” talks briefly of this phenomenon of always considering the “masters” (poets hailing from previous literary ages) on pedestal while continuing to undermine the contemporary talent. As he even doesn’t shy away from criticizing the canonized “masters”.
On the other hand, the logical answer to this question could be the visionary nature of the artists’ work. Both Van Gogh and Kafka were somewhat ahead of their peers. Speaking specifically of Van Gogh he is considered as one of the pioneers of the post-impressionist movement which defied codes of the prevalent impressionist movement. That is why he was even named as primary influence by artists like Gauguin who were also celebrated after their death. Putting the same logic, one could see where Kafka’s work was somewhat opposite to his celebrated peers even avant garde artists were somewhat revolving around the violence of World War I. Kafka was an absurdist that put the human condition in its center looking from the absurdist lens (the absurdist movement itself gained prominence during the 1940s with people like Camus and Beckett gaining critical acclaim, kafka being dead 20 years before the movement).
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