Art is about ideas, vision, and expression, and is not influenced by the brutish reality. This is the lens through which we often look at art, as if it was an other-worldly object rather than one produced by our own world. Many never consider the relationship between social status, power, money, and art.
You do not look at a beautiful portrait and ask how much commission did the artist get for painting it. You do not look at works of a musician and wonder how much of a driving influence money has been in creating it. It is a thought that corrupts the image of the art being examined (and its artist) and we prefer to ignore it for our own sakes.
In class I have made a very bold statement- “If it is done for money, it is not art, but craft.” but now I realize that the relation between art and money is more intricate than that. John Bergers book and our class discussion has been able to shed some light on the matter.
It seems almost distasteful to introduce the subject of money in relation to art. We want to think that artists create for love of their art not for financial gain. Yet every artist would want to support himself with their art. If there was no funding, exhibitions and art installations would not be possible either.
Artists want money, and we (the people) pay it. We want to own art, own beauty, own something unique and special. Berger argued when we own an oil painting we, in an essence, own the object or the idea it represents. We would even pay for the original, that is many times more expensive than a reproduction, which is not only illogical but selfish. In class we have also discussed whether art helps keep social classes separate, and in a way it does. If you have money, you can be the part of the art world/society, but I feel like it was more true in the past than in todays world. Today the art has been more accessible to the public, and while an average person would not be able to hang an original Rembrandt in their living room, they could still learn an extensive amount about his work and see it in a museum, or its image on the screen of their computer.