you're touching on some interesting ideas about what art is. the economic half of your question can sort of be answered by the irrational behavior of the consum

you're touching on some interesting ideas about what art is. the economic half of your question can sort of be answered by the irrational behavior of the consumption of Veblen Goods[0]. the existential question has been addressed by a few artists, popularly by Richard Prince and less popularly (but more fascinatingly, imo) by folks like Elaine Sturtevant[1]. Contemporarily, artists like Clement Valla[2] are doing nifty things looking at the limits and our existing fascination with digital facsimile. Here's an old essay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_M... that asks some of these same questions (in particular the question of what would be missing). i think more interesting is the idea of what it means to own art and why we feel compelled to do it at all. Like they say: Everyone has their reasons. this sort of question (which for me was triggered by Sturtevant) was hugely influential in getting me interested in fine art as a whole. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Sturtevant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Sturtevant [2]: http://clementvalla.com/work/wrapped-terracotta-neck-amphora-storage-jar/ http://clementvalla.com/work/wrapped-terracotta-neck-amphora...