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This is really the art as speculation fad coming home to roost. The people actually interested in art as art are now on things like Instagram buying direct from
by mosura 1y ago
This is really the art as speculation fad coming home to roost. The people actually interested in art as art are now on things like Instagram buying direct from the artists with very little gatekeeping either by art schools or galleries.
It would be tempting to see if there is a correlation in when the “legit” art world price going off a cliff and the NFT bubble, because that suckered in a lot of the idiot end of the speculator crowd.
- gedy 1y agoIt's speculation, but tax avoidance too: https://naturalist.gallery/blogs/journal/understanding-the-fine-art-market-how-the-wealthy-use-art-for-tax-evasion https://naturalist.gallery/blogs/journal/understanding-the-f...
- SJC_Hacker 1y agoAnd money laundering… don’t forget the money laundering
- blitzar 1y agoPersonally I bid for the gasps, fainting and eventual standing ovation at the end of the auction along with the knowing nod and smile from someone who says indubitably a lot.
- mmaunder 1y agoI agree - a lot of art is sold via artists having a relationship with a stable of a few hundred people via insta. Completely bypasses the galleries and is far more compelling for the buyer because they can develop an emotional connection with the creator. Galleries can’t do that without having the artist present and even then they’re overwhelmed and buyers can’t make a connection. So this isn’t necessarily an art thing, it’s a gallery thing. Disintermediation strikes again.
- relaxing 1y agoThis has nothing to do with the art world the article is talking about.
- worthless-trash 1y agoI don't think it has to. The greater art world is abstracted from the value it provides, so much so its obviously seedy.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- riazrizvi 1y agoNFTs were about transparency in provenance, using public, tamper-proof records, that replace jurisdictions/authorities with the type of math that enabled cross-border digital payments. Sure there was a spin-off scam industry but there remains a kernel of legitimacy in the concept.
- chii 1y ago> that replace jurisdictions/authorities without any enforcement with sanctioned violence, this is merely symbolic. It's why so much scam happens with the NFT space.
- stevage 1y agoMore like 99% scam with a tiny kernel of legitimacy lost in the margins.
- criddell 1y agoNFTs? They didn’t really solve a problem other than providing something else to gamble with. Nobody bought a low-res pixelated ape image because it stirred something deep in their soul.
- kingkawn 1y agoNot the image, the spreadsheet cell next to the image has their name in it
- melagonster 1y agoPeople pay money to join fan clubs for K-pop. If there were some electricity sheet will record their name forever, I'm sure someone would pay their money.
- noman-land 1y agoNon-fungible tokens are not about payment, they are about cryptographic ownership of uniqueness.
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- Ferret7446 1y agoThe "art as speculation" fad is just a consequence of "inflation is good" economic theory, the same as "real estate as an investment". If you don't let people hold onto cash, they will just find something else to replace it (and of course, it is always the lower classes that have to suffer the secret taxation that is money supply inflation targets).
- fluoridation 1y agoI don't think so. Speculative markets would arise even in a 0% inflation economy, for the same reason that casinos would. Speculation isn't about storing value, it's about gambling. You have a stronger point with real estate, but real estate isn't as volatile or speculative, usually.
- SchemaLoad 1y agoThere would be very little reason to speculate on art. There's no reason to believe that the average painting would continually go up in value. In a zero inflation environment you'd expect the market to average zero growth. Some random pieces blowing up in value if the artist becomes famous later, but most would go nowhere.
- fluoridation 1y ago>There's no reason to believe that the average painting would continually go up in value. If I had to guess, on average works of art go down in value, simply because of how much is produced. >Some random pieces blowing up in value if the artist becomes famous later, but most would go nowhere. That's exactly where speculation comes from. It's the same as any form of gambling. On average you're losing money, but every once in a while one lucky guy makes off like a bandit.
- pjc50 1y agoIt's only really in the latter half of the 20th century that inflation has actually been held to 0-2% by the active manipulation of interest rates to increase unemployment, and yet everyone acts like inflation is the end of the world.