@jerrycargill5062
On the other end of the spectrum, small galleries in NYC, Chicago, SanFran, etc. they've been shutting down in droves over the last 20 years. Sometimes it's that the owner(s) get bored, or go broke. As an artist, you put your work up in those galleries, the show opens, people come and drink wine and socialize, your art is babysat for a month, then the gallery gives you your art back and it goes back into your storage unit or your mom's wall. This is the reality for most artists. The best solution for artists is to gift, sell to or trade with people you know, who want your work for this simple reason: they like your work for how it looks and how it makes them feel when they look at it.
@Wheezr
Imagine if we made art digital and sold them as tokens for exuberant prices despite being able to be downloaded as a JPEG. That would be nuts.
@oyuyuy
A friend worked for a somewhat famous artist. He ended up drawing his art and got paid $10/h, while the artist just signed the paintings sold them. Some went for $100k+... So yeah, it's a complete nonsense-industry.
@tootsiebitter4186
This is so much money laundering in the art market. Mexico in 2012 put limits on what could be spent on a piece of art and demanded auction houses and galleries require more information on who was actually doing the buying. In one year since that law was in place prices dropped 70%. Drug cartels no longer were interested I guess!
@ShortHax
I’m a simple man, I hear tax evasion, I keep listening
@bettermetal8306
Imagine selling something for a few thousand dollars and thinking you got a good deal just to see it be sold for a few hundred million
@mattakubodimasen10
As an art student at a traditional fine art academy, I can testify that rich people can make art themselves too. They certainly don't lack talent, but when put in comparison with others on the same or better overall abilities, they have a distinct advantage which is their connections. I know families who put all their children into this field because they have been successful and can propel their successors. I have seen paintings that would normally get a C or D sold at an astounding price for a freshman student with average skills while self made ones with works that I believe can already be in the industry struggle to find sales. Fortunately I don't intend to follow into the traditional fine art industry, having no connection to insiders myself and knowing now how the stereotype "talented struggling artists" came to be. However, it still saddens me to see art being treated like this.
@Elendrian
The art industry is full of brilliant accountants, not artists.
@jay-tbl
Thankfully with NFTs, us working class people can get scammed too!
@TracksideViews
Next: The logistics of transporting expensive art
@asrtemps
That is why I personally think why a lot of expensive modern art pieces are getting weirder and uglier. It seems what’s being boosted is the controversy factor, it’s just faster to promote. So they don’t care if technically the artwork is lazily made, as long as there’s a backstory of the artist, some wow factor like touching on controversial subjects, they can work easier to inflate the price. Honestly this sickens me, because I see so many talented artist who spends hours to master their medium and to give their labour of love through their art, get shadowed by a bunch of lazy well-connected artists, who couldn’t care less about mastery, because it wasn’t for labour of love in the core that they do it. It’s really just to be part of the cabal and make big money.
@lancecahill5486
Years ago, ABC's 20/20 had some children painted some pairings and presented them to arts appraisers without telling them who the "artists" were. The result was hilarious as the appraisers went on and on about how sophisticated and valuable the paintings were!
@ethannilsson9638
I've been a Wendover fan for years but I gotta say... this episode is a masterpiece. Bids start at 3 million.
@cameraman502
42% of art is correctly valued. I'm frankly surprised honesty is so high.
@frusia123
Perfumes are another example of this, although it works a little differently because perfumes are perishables. But people will totally admire a stinker just because it has a pricetag of above $200 attached and a name of a famous perfumer.
@SUP3RB34ST
I always thought it was hilarious that auction houses had their own appraisers, even for less shifty markets. "So, you are the recognized authority to determine how much it's worth?" "Yes." "And you work for the auction house that's auctioning it?" "Yes." "And the auction house makes a tidy profit if it sells high enough?" "Yes." "Seems like a pretty self-fueling cycle, isn't it?" "Exactly!"
@Pan_Z
Artificial manipulation of prices to cause speculation isn't exclusive to art. It happened in the early 17th century with tulip bulbs. More recently this craze found it's way to coins, baseball trading cards, beanie babies, and retro video games. A small group of curators decide the price. Then investors buy in hoping prices will continue to rise, further fueling the bubble. Almost none of these people are actually interested in the hobby itself.
@Adam-kx2tp
I would add that the rich also believe they can manipulate trends in color, tone, subject matter etc. A graphic designer, for example, might use an image of a shell for an oil company that destroys the ocean so your mind ignores what's in plain sight. An interior decorator might paint a restaurant's walls red in order to make you feel agitated so you can leave and a new customer can sit down. Painters and Sculptors have always been the first place other creatives go for inspiration. Think: Cubism and The Bauhaus / Jackson Pollock and those ugly splashed paint designs on car seat covers etc. They know that if they control Fine Artists then they control the designer, photographers, the fashion industry, and therefore, our entire visual language of the world.
@Default78334
Check out the Nasher Collection in Dallas whereby the Nashers got the US tax code to subsidize their private art collection and double-dip benefits. After realizing that sculpture was underpriced relative to paintings they started by having their shopping mall buy sculptures to display there, which is a deductible business expense. After owning the pieces for several years, the mall then donates the sculptures to the Nashers' nonprofit foundation (which also owns the museum), thereby getting a charitable deduction at the appreciated value.
@Tsukaiyo