The Price of Everything (2018) – Review

Review THe Price of Everything

The only thing I truly like about art in the form of paintings / statues etcetera is that I am fascinated by the world around it. Although I sometimes visit a museum, artworks that I see there do rarely really move me. But to see how the art world works, how artists make their work and the craziness of it is often fascinating. The number of documentaries/films that I have seen about the subject is enormous (my top 10), so The Price of Everything appealed to me enormously. Isn’t it strange that a work by an artist often yields more when they are dead or that some people buy art as an investment rather than something that they actually enjoy? This film not only follows collectors and artists (the highly successful Jeff Koons and Larry Poons whose work is currently not considered “hot”), but director Nathaniel Kahn also gets access behind the scenes at Sotheby’s. This results in a fascinating picture where you sometimes wonder whether money ultimately has destroyed quite a lot.

Review The Price of Everything

What does an artist want? That his work is sold for a lot of money and ends up in a private collection and is never viewed by a large audience or that a museum buys the work for a lower price so it can be seen by many people (and maybe after a while ends up in storage). Amy Cappellazzo, head of Sotheby’s department, is of the opinion that the first is the better option (of course), but then you also hear criticism from others about certain companies which buy important works of art to use as “lobby art” (which in their eyes lower the value of the artist).

Imagine that the same would happen for movies or music tracks. Although the Wu-Tang clan once did this once as a kind of art project, when this would be done in general would have an unimaginable impact on society. Just imagine The Godfather being sold to one person and the rest of the world would never be able to enjoy it. It would be considered bizarre, but it is reality in the art world. Director Nathaniel Khan succeeds to show and highlight all aspects and thereby further stimulate my fascination.

[score8]

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