The top five most expensive paintings ever sold at auction are recorded at prices well over one hundred million dollars, outweighing the cost of their production exponentially. But why? Well, it all comes down to the prestige of the owner. For many collectors it seems to be more about the name of the artist, especially if it rhymes with Micasso, or provenance; the history of the painting’s owners and source. It is not necessarily that such a collector even really likes the thing, but rather how its possession can heighten their image. When the painting is sold on the auction floor, the auctioneer puts down his gavel and the audience claps, but not for the artist or the art object itself, rather for the money. As art is affected by all of life’s many forces, so is it therefore influenced by the fact that it is a material thing to be bought and sold. Many art movements in the modern and postmodern have tried to escape this marketable approach to art by integrating it more into the everyday, or perhaps even removing the material aspect of art completely. For example, Mondriaan, amongst others of the ‘De Stijl’ movement in the early twentieth century, believed that taking their iconic asymmetrical grids in the essential primary colours, black and white and applying them to every aspect of living would create a levelled, class free utopia of art as life.
Rietveld's De Stijl Chair, just an example of the integration of the well known Mondrian like style in an everyday object. From here
However, art did not just end with the establishment of conceptual art. Rather its effect enabled the art world to take an introspective look at their motives. I would say that the majority of people who choose to make any type of creative pursuit, whether it be art making of some form, writing or design, as their profession, generally do not demand a $250 million paycheck. It is their passion for the craft that makes the decision, and so too should the recipient of such hard work make decisions based on passion rather than a notion of prestige. In essence, this is one of the reasons I love being a part of Papergirl so much. Taking away the monetary aspect of the art process allows the recipient to value their gifted artwork for its actual artistry, as well as that of its creator. The idea that art can only be owned by, or understood by, the very wealthy is silly at best, and through sharing art I believe we can revaluate our own misconceptions about the art world, and maybe even the world in general.
If you are the proud recipient of one of our wonderful gifted pieces this year and would like to share, we’d love to hear your story through any of our social media outlets!
Thanks for reading and stay inspired,
-al