I See Art As A Business

My gradual exposure to various forms of art for the past few years has evoked in me a desire and interest to know and understand what makes an artwork an artwork and correspondingly, what makes an artist an artist. Having defined art as arbitrary and yet as something of intellect and skills, and at the same time having been introduced to controversial yet seemingly awe-inspiring certain works of art in class, I am starting to have a glimpse of art elitism. From being introduced as a mere expression of human emotions, art has now been put on a high pedestal and valued in a way I cannot fully comprehend. Perhaps this is because art is now seen as a servant of money; what was the slave of religion then is now the slave of capitalism. In short words, art is business, with its works just plain commodities illusioned to have value.

Although that is one way to put it, I’m seeing the case in what I think is a less complicated perspective: Art isn’t what has become elitist, it is the perception or appreciation of it that has. By this, I mean the people surrounding art; “critics” and “experts” that dictate not only what is considered art but also how art should be perceived. These curators hang paintings, stand sculptures, and display intermedia as if they know better than what we deem is art; as if it is a truth universally known that they have better artistic taste than everyone else; so much for “art is subjective. ” I mean, let’s be honest. If Robert Ryman can sell a white canvas for $20. 6 million, why can’t I get a blank canvas, spill some white paint over it and sell it for the same price? If Marina Abramović can produce art through sitting and staring at other people, why can’t I do the same in and call it art? If Piero Manzoni put his faeces in small tin cans and sold them for more than £50, 000 each, why can’t I store my urine in jars and sell them for P1 million each? If Marchel Duchamp decided on a whim to remove the urinal from its setting and put it in a different context, why can’t I randomly take out a shower sprinkler and make it stand at the center of a dim room and sign it for it to be displayed in museums?

And just in case the deemed “correct” or “appropriate” response to all of these questions boils down to their identity as established artists and my identity as basically someone irrelevant, who gets to say what an artist is and what an artist should be? I may sound ignorant of art and my thoughts may seem extremely shallow but this is the reality that I see: art is alienating.