I clicked on this article which is titled "Child Damages $56 Million Painting in Netherlands" kinda to read the story, but also to check out the painting.
I was surprised to see the painting is so plain-looking. $56 million, for this? It looks like a sheet of plywood painted orange and yellow.
Could there be a nefarious explanation for why art like this is so highly valuable?
I have heard that in the 60s, groups like the CIA funded "ugly art" to confuse and dehumanize the population. And also I imagine it would be a great way for people connected to a famous artist to launder money.
Could any of this be true, or is the explanation more reasonable, and if so, what is the explanation?
Why is this painting worth $56 million dollars?
Posted by moronmcmoron1
4 Comments
It’s an art scam, very common… You’re a billionaire and have a friend, nobody special, struggling artist, buys a piece for 10k for example, then said billionaire has an art appraiser friend that values it at 10million, billionaire sells the piece and the artist doesn’t make shit, but instantly gains noteriety and he sells future pieces in the millions but there’s usually an agent fee for the billionaire in the form of royalties and or artwork for pennies on the dollar which then gets appraised again and the money loop continues.
I know an art collector that purchased a 100m painting, an Andy Warhol piece… Crazy shit man.
Money laundering
money laundering or “the real art is what you think these colors represent” it might be a conversation piece for old people to feel better than each other for the mind games they had to play to get that much money in the first place or something
you’re right that art is often used as an investment commodity for money-laundering/tax evasion purposes and the CIA used modern art as part of a Cold War era social engineering/psywar campaign (Francis Stonor Saunders’ book on this is required reading), but Rothko is good actually. same with pollack. you’ve got to see them in person to understand.
i saw one of his in the Kansas City art museum that was literally just black on black, different shades and textures of black rectangles making a square, but I swear after about 2 minutes looking at it, it started doing something to my brain. Everything around me went quiet and it filled my whole field of view. Felt like sitting in a cathedral, kind of.
Same deal with Pollack. it’s easy to point and be like “hurr durr $100 million for paint spackles, my toddler could make that!” but if you ever get to see one in person, if you take a good look at it and let yourself get lost in it, you’ll understand a bit more. I still prefer figurative art by far, and I think a lot of performance art, modern art, “statement art” is bullshit with its head up its ass, but still…Rothko is good. Idk about $56 million good, but definitely good.