ART CAN emotionally touch, inspire, and enlighten us with new perspectives. However, such art is losing its essence due to recent developments in the art market. Increasingly seen as investments, individual artworks are now sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, with many people willing to pay such exorbitant amounts. As art becomes a mere means of garnering profits, artworks become standardized while aesthetic value and artistic intentions are sacrificed. 

Commercialization of art

   Commercialization of art is the process of turning art into a product that can be sold for financial profit. On one hand, this phenomenon can help the art world become more inclusive, as much of the art is sold to galleries and ends up broadly accessible. Commercialization can also provide artists with financial stability, enabling them to pursue their work full-time. However, contemporary trends in the art market toward hyper-commercialization threaten to undermine these positives, as certain artists sell works for unnecessarily high prices while others continue to struggle financially. The huge range of artists' income indicates that sharp divides remain between popular artists, who reap massive profits, and relatively unpopular artists, who lack opportunities[1]. Furthermore, many art museums and galleries make profits through commissions on the sales of artworks they display. This means that they are likely to select the pieces of popular artists or works that cater to recent fads in the market, thus limiting the range of art presented.

Problematic perception of art

   As art becomes commercialized, many people have begun to perceive art as a token of social prestige. Using the unique nature of the art market where prices are determined based on predictions of expected future value rather than supply and demand, investment in art has proliferated among wealthy consumers who simply see art as a means of investing capital[2]. This reduction of art to a financial asset and prioritization of financial gains over aesthetic value has solidified an overly simplistic perception of art.

   The issue has even become the subject of contemporary pieces. Banksy’s Love is in the Bin directly addresses his opposition to this form of hyper-expensive art deals, as “it suggests that love, sentiment and truth in artwork is lost and overshadowed by big-budget art dealings[3].” He intended to deliver the message by remotely destroying his famous painting Girl with Balloon during a Sotheby’s auction in London. However, despite his intention, market watchers predicted that the now-infamous self-destruction would increase the work’s value; as a result, the price increased more than twentyfold[4]. Paradoxically, Banksy’s criticism of the commercialization of art became another example showing how thoroughly art is commodified, completely undermining the artist’s intended message.

Decrease in creativity and quality of art

   Indiscreet pursuit of profits in the art market and overpricing can shift artists’ focus from artistic inspiration to financial gain. Consequently, as artists pander to certain styles of art that appeal to large groups of wealthy consumers, art’s diversity may be threatened by uniformity. For example, a series of Jeff Koons’s Balloon Dog which sold for $58.4 million features multiple pieces with identical designs, just in different colors. Rather than displaying artistic uniqueness in each creation, the simple imitation and repetition of the same idea throughout numerous works deprive the art of creativity and diversity[5]. Similarly, Andy Warhol, who successfully worked with a wide variety of mediums, introduced himself as both an artist and entrepreneur and referred to his studio as a factory[6]. Even Warhol, an artist himself, references the commodification of his art and associates the practice of creating art with industrial manufacturing.

   At the Art Basel Miami 2019, a banana duct-taped to the wall was sold for $120,000 and Artist’s Shit, a can filled with feces, sold for about $300,000[7]. As works like these are spotlighted, massive financial incentives encourage this absurd trend and ultimately downgrade the overall quality of art. While contemporary art indubitably offers aesthetic value, we must critically re-evaluate the hyper-capitalist trend toward paying exorbitant amounts. It is important that we seek true aesthetic values underlying artworks and remind ourselves that financial value is not the true determinant of the value artwork holds.

[1] ZipRecruiter

[2] Artelier

[3] LSU Media

[4] Cornell University

[5] Los Angeles Times

[6] The Art Institute of Chicago

[7] ANSA