Art, Assets and the Mystery of What Things Are "Worth"
For as many years as I have been in the business end of art, it never ceases to amaze me how many people in the world buy art — and other "assets," for that matter — based on what those things are supposedly "worth."
"Value" and "Worth" are really a couple of very slippery beasts.
In the world of Art, they tend to mostly be quite arbitary. And a matter of opinion, rather than record. What IS this "worth?" Is it financial? Is it emotional? Is is aesthetic?
Most people reach for the monetary worth, of course.
"Columbines"
What is my Art Worth?
As a gallery owner, I have often heard that question coming from artists, themselves. And — as testament to the relative arbitrariness of it all — I see poorly executed art priced in the $1000's and works of genius and inspiration priced under $100.
It can be quite confusing!
But "value" has a lot of layers. Just because you and I agree that we should price your painting at $500 when we hang it in the gallery, doesn't mean that anyone else will think that's a fair price. Or be willing to pay that price.
In my many years of selling art — with the exception of a handful of semi-famous and very well established artists — I am still to discover what the "secret" of valuation is!
It's all just pretty much... guesswork...
"Timelapse," print from watercolour painting by Braden Duncan
A Willing Seller and a Willing Buyer
Ultimately, the "value" of ANYthing is the price agreed on between a willing seller and a willing buyer, at any given moment.
Even if we price your art at $1000 and hang it in the gallery for ten years at that price... if nobody ever PAYS that price then your art is not actually worth $1000.
And if the only authentic "willing buyer" offer is $100, then we most likely have to conclude that the "value" of your art is $100, no matter how much you may be attached to your art being "worth" $1000. Although... if you're not willing to sell for $100, we still don't really know the value of your art.
This can be a very harsh reality for some artists to face up to because "value" can actually become an extension of self; an extension of ego.
"Monolith"
Value and... EVERYTHING
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the way the @artzone MULA token seems to have given up 99.9% of it's ostensible "value."
In a sense, it is a reminder that value and worth truly are the result of market forces, not of what we think something "should" be worth.
Here we are, creating content for the Steem blockchain through a variety of channels, and we all think Steem "should be" worth a lot more than it is, and our posts "should" be worth a lot more than they are... but the reality is that one Steem is "worth" about 41 cents, right now.
And that's just the reality we have to deal with!
Thanks for reading!
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Great article and so useful for artists to understand how the pricing artworks. I saw artists overprice their artworks without having any chance to sell them just to show to people that they are important. I also saw others giving away for free great art because they feel that it is not good enough to have a value. The artists mind works in mysterious ways,lol. I believe that is all about trust, the trust that others put in your works and the trust you put yourself in them.
In the years I have kept galleries, what always seems to be true is that when art truly moves someone, a price will be set, and it's usually higher than you might expect... And typically, it's the more humble artists who end up commanding the higher prices.
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