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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 631577" data-attributes="member: 4937">We live in a world were art - arguably high quality art - is mass produced and consequently sold at fairly low prices.   Art is everywhere today.I am aware how much art supplies cost.   I am aware how much time and effort goes into the production of a peice of art.  I am aware of the cost of framing.  I consequently understand why a hand made painting of a local artist must be sold for several hundred dollars if that artist is to make any money for his labor at all.What I in general don't understand is why a local artist should expect anyone to want to pay several hundred dollars for a peice of work which has no private meaning to the buyer and is of reutine quality in a world filled with thousands of local artists - especially painters and photographers - of reasonably good quality.   I mean really, as an economic decision, do you get a reprint of a work by an artist of national or world renown for $40 bucks, or do you get a painting that looks like it might have been painted by your Aunt the hobby painter (and face it there are alot of good hobby painters) for $400 dollars?   Do you get a reproduction of some peice of art having alot of personal meaning to you, usually in todays world by way of popular culture, for $40 bucks or do spend $550 for something which obviously has alot of personal meaning to the artist but which doesn't mean much of anything to you?  Do you hang on your walls the hobby art of your Aunt/Cousin/Brother-In-Law which at least has some shared meaning between that person and yourself (and which you likely got for free as a wedding/birthday/Christmas gift), or do you hang the professional art of a stranger which may or may not be of marginally superior quality?And this last part is I think a critical point.  In 'modern art' movements, artists are schooled to believe that the purpose of thier art is to please themselves.   The problem seems particularly bad to me among painters.  They are apparantly taught to personally express themselves according to thier own tastes and desires and secret meanings.   That is fine - and I'm sure it is very satisfying - but, I don't understand how that relates to being successful in the profession of artist.   The real artists that I admire are 'sell outs', who do work on commision intended to have great meaning to the buyer or the buyer's target audience.  Historical artists of great fame were often 'sell outs', working on portraits and other works which had private meaning to the patron that employed them.  Does this lesson the value or beauty of thier works?  Only after an artist has proven his ability to 'sell me on something' would I be remotely interested in buying art that was about what the artist felt or wanted.  First make me care, then worry about making private art.</blockquote>

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