Those who do not follow the market are punished by the market.
Those who follow the art market are punished by the art market.
Well, let’s try it.
Art is a business …
What is art from the perspective of the beholder? Among other things: One can not believe it. They want to see it a second time. The observer thinks artists are despairing, or pretending to be descended as non-artists. Behind it is an old shamanic healer and priestly cult and is related to power exercise. Artists create a defect with this power, which they then use. This is a market.
Art is not decoration but explanation. It is not about the depicted, but about the depiction. Art is to leave important impertinent and vice versa. Tradition is betraying the future. And explained, almost everyone would like the world. Even if he does not understand it. Buy someone who recognizes this, or believes it to recognize it.
… An absurd business
Art doubles its value as soon as it is bought (technical products halve their own – Art Of Business, Business Of Art). At the same time, art has the lowest return on investment compared to other types of investment. But here exorbitant value increases are only possible here. Only works that enhance their value are art. And there are masses and masses and masses of pictures and sculptures. There is no lack of resources. The commodity art is therefore more interesting for the risky trade and not for its producers. The life-reality of most artists reflects this statistically:
“Many artists earn less than 700 euros a month” (Marco Mundelius DIW, 2009). This means the academically educated artists. The autodidacts may enjoy an above-average income. Behind this, however, is a statistical fallacy. Anyone coming from the Academy automatically ranks among the statistically recorded artists (even if he is a different profession). But only the autodidacts who have made it and sell themselves are regarded as the same (the others are regular taxi drivers, who are painting or playing music).
Apart from the usual value added between households and businesses, the artist is in the usual case of self-employment. Success or task. A normal entrepreneur can often snap off wrong investments as failed projects (financially and emotionally) and do something new, different. An artist can not do that. If he fails, he loses his existence.
Jens H. Westermann, 2018.