But I was in my Art 208 class...it basically looks at how to critique Contemporary Art, and my professor said something SUPER enlightening to me, he said something along the lines of, "Art historians and art critics makes the piece valuable." Hear that, hear that?? Artwork is only as valuable as a person says it is!! Now, this person is...educated in how to interpret art and how to critique art, but I think that it is safe to say that if you become a big enough person as a critic, then your head gets pretty big too, and THEN you feel a really strong sense of authority over something. So, to me, in the world of art, when it's a way to express yourself and your ideas, if someone comes along and TELLS you what you should do and how you should do it, to the point where it isn't YOUR work, but simply mainstream work, then...it isn't art anymore. Thankfully, the art world is FULL of super smart people, smart enough to realize when Art takes a new form.
Ok, so this little blab got me thinking about other things, I mean like, the value of other things.
I mean, what's minimum wage, $7.25ish now? A 24-pack of soda costs about $6, so that means that if you work at McDonalds for an HOUR, you can get soda, but not a nice shirt (unless there's super sale..but let's not live in a world of super sales right now [OMG, that's actually pretty horrifying to think about]) or a nice pair of jeans...or even a large pizza from Pizza Hut! (Well, you can get a pizza from Lil' Caesar's, but lots of people don't like their pizza for some reason [I think it's pretty yummy])
Point being, I can understand how you can like figure out how much you should charge for stuff like...pizza and stuff, just calculate how much money it takes to make the pizza and stuff or whatever, but how can you...put a value on a person's time?? How can you put a value on a person's work?? Is a lawyer doing more work per hour than say a farmer? Does a receptionist really work harder than say...someone working on an assembly line?
I realize that like...everyone does something different, but is intellectual work worth more than physical work? Why is it that jobs that need education, like doctors and lawyers, pay so much more? I can kind of understand when a businessman (or businesswoman) makes a lot, because if your business gets really big, so does your wallet, but how can you pay your secretary more than you pay your workers in the factories? Is it because you only have ONE secretary and usually like 10375033580753 factory workers??
I seriously don't get this.
And is it all just a NAME?? Like, I realize that some of the times, the brand promises a quality. Like shampoo, I would like to get the super cheap brand, but the super cheap brands tend to make my hair look like a bird's nest, so I get the slightly more expensive brand and my hair looks...better. But when it comes to stuff like...food, is it just the brand?? I mean, nowadays, everything's fake, so you have to go out and look for the best fake stuff. But say, like at the Farmer's Market, a lot of the stuff are...pretty much the same. Grown organically and locally, and not only that, but the prices are all pretty much the same too! (Well, ok at the end of the day, there's a whole bunch of sales, but remember, no-sales world) So, why is it when we go to the supermarket, that we find juice for $2, but we find the same juice, under a different brand, for $7?? What has branding done to the world??
I mean, clothes I can understand...to an extent. Yes, there is a MAJOR difference between American Eagle jeans and...JCPenny jeans, to me, mostly all jeans look the same, but when you consider fit and style AND how the jeans feel, I'm willing to pay the extra $10 for the American Eagle jeans. But there's a limit as to how AWESOME clothes can BE. Are Guess jeans SO much better than Hollister jeans that they cost at least twice as much? And what I don't get AT ALL are BAGS. Yes, some bags are more durable than others, but in the end, a bag is a bag! Why does Coach bags cost $400 and any regular bag from Wal-mart cost $10? AND SHOES. HOLY SHIT. I was just looking at some Oscar de la Renta shoes and yes, some of them are simply GORGEOUS, but not something I'm willing to pay $600 for! WHY DOES A PAIR OF SHOES COST AS MUCH AS MY RENT?? What does the name have to do with anything? And finally, why does it matter?
That's it, isn't it? You're not buying a bag, or jeans, or shoes, you're buying the NAME. You're TRYING to be "high class" by buying "high class" things!
To me, clothes isn't like...Art. Yes, it is a way to express yourself (a very effective way, at that), but...what does it SAY? To me, high art kind of makes sense, because the artist isn't just some random joe off the street, the artist is saying something, about society, about themselves and something like that. And I'm not saying that designers aren't expressing themselves nor am I saying that they aren't commenting on society, but what I AM saying is...what are the CONSUMERS saying? Are they buying the designer's statement because they can't come up with their own? Do they know what the statement is saying in the first place? And if they do know all of that, then why is the statement SO GOD DAMN EXPENSIVE?! Is it that only rich people can comment on society? Is it that only rich people can express themselves?
Critics make the work valuable. That's it, if a major fashion...dude, went up to a random boutique with some small time designer and publishes something that says, "This designer's got it," then all of a sudden, the designer is worth MILLIONS! Are the clothes any different? Did the statement change? And does the clothes have as much impact, had the designer not been "discovered"??
I guess you can say the same about Art, in a way, but the only difference for me between Art and...fashion, is that museums are buying the works of Art, it's so that scholars can come in and pick apart the meaning of the piece and try to get what the artist is saying through it (because a lot of artists are really evasive and is always like, "What do YOU think it's saying?" for some reason, it's kind of annoying, but kind of fun at the same time). Whereas clothes are...sold in masses, they're mass producing someone's "soul" (that is, if they're really expressing themselves), yeah a lucky celebrity will get a "one-of-a-kind" dress once in a while, but other than the sentimental value, is the dress really worth a million dollars?
I guess what I'm saying is, why is there a hierarchy of...names? Why do we value someone's name so much to the point where we are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money, which we work our asses off for, just to try to be like them? Just for a bit of their statement?
I really want to get these questions answered, I don't know any appraisal dudes...but when I meet one, I'd like to ask them a whole lots of questions! (I tried to watch Antique Roadshow, but they just talk a lot and then I get lost in what they're saying...)
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