Selling Vanity — The Art Market
The first arts auction that I went to was a Sotheby’s exhibition. It was a part of an Arts Marketing course I was taking in grad school. I remember my professor asking us if we saw anything interesting after our tour, I raised my hand and said, “The expensive ones aren’t really that pretty. I do find the aesthetics of some of the cheaper ones to be better. How does the pricing strategy work?” She said, “Whichever art piece is more beautiful is only your subjective opinion. The art market is built out of layers and layers of presteige.” And that might not be the most precise summary, but it pretty much explains how the art market has little to do with the appreciation of art itself.
I enjoy going to art trade fairs a lot. In Taipei, these trade fairs are often held in fancy hotels where each room is made into its own small gallery. In these events you can see some works of extremely well known artists like Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama sold expensively. In addition to that, the best part is you get to see artists who are nobodys trying to make it. You get to see what art was before it becomes a part of the vanity game which is the billion dollar art market, and when it does, the name matters more than the work.
Getting to hear descriptions of the art making process and what the art pieces were meant to convey is another part I enjoy a lot in these trade fairs. It feels authentic and original, but not limiting at all. Hearing about art pieces from the creators helps me appreciate their works on a deeper level.
Banksy’s anonymity and his choices of canvases all suggest the fact that he disapproves of his artworks’ commercial value, and they are a way of rebelling against the art market. Even so, this hasn’t stopped people from selling Banksys for ridiculously high prices. The art market is there for a reason. People have the need to be respected, appear educated, maintain an image of having taste, and flaunt their wealth. The art pieces are just a means of fulfilling these desires and needs, or at least that’s a huge part of their purpose.
Made You Look is a painfully true depiction of how even the rich have extremely ordinary desires and delusions to satisfy that lead them to make foolish mistakes. In this true documentary about the largest art fraud in America you see many defrauded wealthy people claiming to “fall in love” with the fake art pieces’ charm, but only to see these fake artworks as valueless objects after finding out that they were counterfeits. So what really were these millionares and billionares falling in love with in the first place?
There’s nothing wrong with people having needs and desires that need satisfying. The art market isn’t the only industry hacking into people’s vulnerabilities and wants on a daily basis. However, I do think it’s important to see things for what they are and owning up to the choices made based on that knowledge. Beauty and aesthetics is subjective, and I feel that being able to appreciate art no matter where they are is a wonderful skill to have.
