So i was sitting in the reception area of my doctor's office to confirm my concerns about a sinus infection. (i was right, i got it bad) Anyways, across the walls were different pieces of artwork from two artists. Both were large (4X4ft) paintings on canvas, but both very different. One was a piccaso-style macabre doctor-themed artist. His/Her paintings were unmarked, and were funny yet somewhat strange.
The other artist had very basic acrylic paint seemingly dribbled and splashed on the canvas in randomness. There were three colors used at max, and barely covered 30% of the canvas area. It was interesting to see for me, but only to imagine a crazy or lazy person flicking a paintbrush at a canvus until it had some random design.
These pieces were labled, with simple phrases like "The Dance" that seemed fortune-cookie like in the way that they would fit any painting that they were attatched to. They also had a pricetag. $2000 a pop.
So, to me the random splatter was in no way aestheticly pleasing yet were the most expensive. They clearly showed little to no effort, and no thought to the title. The other paintings had such a unique style, and humor. The artist had attention to detail, mutiple layers, facial expressions, and yet they were not priced. They were a donation, it seemed.
Does a large pricetag increase value at all? Possibly. Had i seen random splatter on the sidewalk, would i have thought to take a picture and sell it for a couple grand? No... So is value of art in the effort? Clearly no. What about the overall aesthetics? Pleasing to some, but not to others... This would suggest that art is subjective. If this is so, then why do people make money by selling random splatters? Because many others find them attractive?
In addition, art as a subjective force breaks down all that art should be. Refined, masterful, not just a stump in a ditch. If that is art, then so is everything else and paintings should be worthless. But they arent. So where does the value of art come from?
First of all I think you are a bit naive about how much it costs for an artist to make a painting. If I wanna work on canvas, for instance and I am a serious artist, I will not buy prestretched canvas on a stretcher. First I have to build a stretcher. I make mine out of wood. It takes about two days to complete. I usually spend 30 dollars on lumber to make a stretcher. Then I have to have a miter saw to cut 90 degree angles to join the wood at angles. I then have to buy the canvas and stretch the canvas which is a laborious processes that takes another day depending on the size. Then I have to seize the canvas with sieze, then I have to prime the canvas in many layers. I do about 4 layers each time I have to wait for the coat to dry and then I have to sand it with fine grit sand paper before the next layer.
So before I even started the painting, I've invested around 50+ dollars and several days of work on making something to paint on.
Then artist grade paint is not cheap! I've spent over 200 dollars on paint on one painting alone! The acrylic paint you were using probably cost 5 dollars a tube. The paint I use is probably around 20 dollars a tube and more sometimes depending on the pigment. I work in oil. So i also have to buy paint, paint thinner, oil medium, varnish, and not to mention brushes. The paint thinner I use is a petroleum product that is extremely refined so my house doesn't smell like a gas station and so it wont kill me. A gallon of that cost me 40 dollars! With painting also comes a knowledge about paint. Paintings will fall apart and fade and crack. This will be expedited if the painter is not knowledge able about his materials. A jackson pollock will not be in good shape now because he used house paint. They have to be continuously repaired to last.
But I do agree that art is overpriced many of the time. But the price is determined by how willing a person is to pay, not by the painting.
This part of Art is not subjective. The interpretation of art is highly subjective. If that bothers you, you should just get a book of math equations and do those all day. I am not that convinced that you are that interested in visual arts to begin with.
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