As you get further and further into the art world, the specter of profitability comes seeping in out of the corner of your eye. It was always a consideration, but now you have to make a living that doesn’t necessitate an all-ramen diet. At the heart of this dilemma is a vital question. It might be one of the most important questions that our society has to offer.
“How much is art worth?”
There’s a lot of answers to that question. Some people try to answer it with a price tag. You’ll periodically see some news story about the spectacularly high bidding on a famous art piece. These stories are invariably shared with the message about how ridiculous said price was.
Only a few select pieces of art get bought by wealthy people who want something to put on their walls. The vast majority of artists have a much harder time getting their stuff sold or appreciated. And the quality of art usually doesn’t have much to do with how much it costs. So we can’t judge the worth of art by something as simple as its price.
Another way people judge the value of art is by salary. You all know my opinions on “practical majors” and the jobs they result in. But judging art like this is also excluding a huge percentage of artists who don’t work in creative professions. So many artists toil and create without a paycheck in sight. Some don’t even want money. Isn’t their art just as, if not more, important as the work of a professional artist?
So instead of focusing on art’s value based on how much we pay for it, let’s determine the value of art based on what it does for us.
Consider the so-called Bilbao effect. Throughout the late 20th century, this city in the Basque country of Spain had slowly decayed. Deindustrialization, terrorism and economic downturn had turned the city into a show of its former self. But in 1997, the city was chosen to be the location of a new Guggenheim museum. The influx of tourism and culture revitalized the city into a gem of modern Spain.
Bilbao is far from the only city to benefit from art. New York City generates almost $18 billion a year from nonprofit and commercial art. It’s also been found to increase community involvement and general quality of life. America is still suffering from its post-industrial hangover; cities like Detroit and our own Rochester are falling apart at the seams. You might say it’s naive to think art can fix these complex problems. And I would agree; the issue of urban renewal is a very complex problem with equally complex answers. But there’s no denying that art and culture are important parts of this answer.
So that brings us back to the original question — what’s the value of art? What’s the value of community? What’s the value of quality of life? What’s the value of culture?
My appraisal? Priceless.
