I don't really follow your point about society not valuing art. If IKEA is selling enormous quantities of prints and posters, then that's a lot of money being s

I don't really follow your point about society not valuing art. If IKEA is selling enormous quantities of prints and posters, then that's a lot of money being spent on art (and I assume that you don't think that prints are 'not art'?) On the other extreme of the art market, some paintings are fetching increasingly ridiculous multi-million dollar prices at auction. So, at both ends of the market, there is a lot of money involved. Society would appear to be valuing art. I'm sure that at an individual level, it is hard for an artist to make a living, but is that really because art is undervalued, or simply that there is a glut of artists? Also, what is it about the 'Anglo-Saxon world' that is different? I'm genuinely curious - is there a big cultural difference in being an artist elsewhere?