Experiment

I am one of the luckier ones. I see beauty in very ordinary things, so I would have an appreciate for any type of art, (including some people's posts on mylot), no matter what the monetary value associated with it is. I think this would be a rad experiment to try with a hidden camera with a focus group or something. I would love to see how people react. Great question!

I do think a price tag would be distracting, but I don't think it would change my opinion of a piece art. I am an artist myself (a commercial one by ex-profession, a fine artist at heart) . . . so I can mostly see art for what it is and don't get influenced by other people's opinions about that. I can put pieces into the category of my likes and dislikes . . . but really my interest goes into how the artist developed into that particular style (that takes a little more homework). So I appreciate the "history" of the artist and how that piece came to be. Not all art is "pretty", nor is it meant to be . . . so I understand it's hard for many to "get" art. The value of art? Bah. It's all in what the highest bidder is willing to pay. I don't have all the money in the world, so for me, it's all about what I like.

I go to art museums out of pure curiosity for what I find there. I'd be curious to see the painting Blue Poles because of how much it cost and considering it's an abstract that looks thrown together. To me, the value of a piece is interesting but irrelevant to whether or not I like the piece. I'm probably more inclined to like worthless stuff. When it all boils down, I know nothing about are but I do know what I like.

It probably wouldn't affect me much. Unfortunately there are way too many people that something like that would affect. You see it all the time with music, movies, celebrities; so I'm sure it happens with art, also. I could give several examples of celebrities that the majority think are beautiful, handsome and/or talented that I don't think are at all but I guess I should avoid naming names, etc.

No, it wouldn't distract me from looking at them. I would know before i went in i couldn't afford any of them so that wouldn't bother me aata all. In fact i'd like to see what they were worth.

This is a really good discussion, dawn! Market values would distract me but I doubt it would make me less appreciative of the things I like. I look at ordinary things in the stores and I find that I like what I like; sometimes it’s something that costs a small fortune and sometimes it’s a two dollar object. I don’t make much sense of pricing and paying for labels anyway. Some people, like my parents, for example, judge things by their price; I've seen my mother put an item back on the shelf because it was too cheap, regardless of the fact that she quite liked it, to me that is ridiculous! I would imagine items in a museum or an art gallery would be very unpredictable in their prices whether they put the right tags on them or not!

That would certainly distract me from enjoying the art. I think thats pretty cheesy. Even art galleries that sell the pieces do not have it showing.

There is no value you can put on an art piece that will make me like it! Art , like religion, is a personal thing. Either you are moved by a piece or you are not! I guess all this value tage are forart collectors. some are just in it for the money Only! I can never see buying a piece of art I don't like or can't bear to see Just to profit from it! But then again I would buy pieces that Move me and I would Never , Ever sell them.

The phrase "price of everything and value of nothing" springs to mind Dawn. In any case, some things are priceless and I don't see how you could apply a price tag to them. But there is no doubt that there is a commercial interest in "culture" and that it drives many aspects Especially music and definitely literature. They say that the most powerful person in literature here is the chief buyer for a company called Waterstones - the largest bookshops in the UK. That means that they decide what we get to read and that decision is based entirely on likely sales. That's kind of scary.

Interesting topic Me, I am an (amateur) artist myself. I would be curious about those price tags but I won't let those tags tell me which artwork to look at. I think commercialization would affect art. I won't let it affect me but usually, most people do. It always seems that the higher value the artwork has, the better it is. As the old saying goes, "beauty depends on the eye of the beholder".

We appreciate art in the museums. We don't care how much it is now except for those who want to buy them. The price tags would only amuse us. that is all.

Yes. I think that posting the tags would distract some people. Because if they were there, then people people would only be focusing on the art piece. And not the price.

Honestly, a lot! :) Most people cannot visualize how a picture would look in their homes! At times it is much too large or much too small, or the color of the wall is not right, or other objects in the room are more distracting when compared to the picture, and so on. But they buy it anyway, as an investment that could be sold at a later date. Same holds true for other art forms as well.

Good thought experiment, mixing up the prices. I do think there are many people who think more expensive equals better. Look how people rushed to buy houses when they were overpriced, and now hesitate to buy them now that they are underpriced (maybe). The gold market seems to work the same way. Gold is now a good investment in some people's minds just because it costs much more than it did last year. There's no logic here, but a lot of psychology.

I seldom agree with judges when it comes to art. I think it would add interest to see a price tag, but it wouldn't influence me in any way (unless it was to laugh at such a high price for such a hideous painting eg). However, I know a number of people whose criteria would be either the artist/author/whatever or the price. I like looking in homewares shops, at all the decor things, ornaments etc. I am astounded at the prices asked for some items, but it doesn't influence my liking or disliking of the object. I have figurines by Royal Doulton and I love them, but no more than my figurines which are made in China and cost very little. In fact, the facial features on the cheap ones are better than on the expensive ones.

To paraphrase Horton: I like what I like And I don't what I don't. There are many pricely things that I do not like and other "worthless" things that I do.

The only way it may affect me is, if something was really a thing of beauty that I loved, and had a price of less than a grand on it, I'd be wishing I could afford it. However if something was outragiously expensive, and it was something I didn't really care for (like some forms of pop art), my thoughts would drift too who would waste that much money on it, and wouldn't they be wiser to spend that much feeding the poor?

I was at an art gallery exhibition today looking at the works of a famous Spanish modern artist today and I really didn't enjoy what I was looking at. Seriously I was thinking that I could have created the very same pieces myself. I would have actually been interested in how much they were worth on the open market, because it would probably be the only way I could have appreciated the pieces. I am in no doubt that commercilaism affects the popularity of art, music and so on. The more exposure something gets the more popular it becomes in my opinion.