I understand that art is always worth as much as it will sell for. But when I heard $37 million was paid for an Andy Warhol painting of the King, and that "The Scream" fetched $120 million, I felt something was deeply wrong with our world.
Life is unfair. It's often unfair to the individual advantage of a citizen of a developed nation. But witnessing massive fortunes being spent on single piece of artwork – while unrest, unemployment and poverty claim huge portions of the global population – causes me to think that this order of things truly cannot last. Some people can't buy food, yet others can drop tens of millions on an object? I realize this class of rich citizens is purchasing the cultural significance of the object, not the object itself, but that kind of imbalance cannot hold. Food is a necessity. And as important and fascinating as Warhol's artwork is, I will survive, perhaps less richly, without it.
No comments:
Post a Comment