“Expensive abstract paintings are just money laundering” is intellectually lazy and conspiratorial. The entire art world and the IRS aren’t working together to let some people get away with money laundering, but only as long as they use art to do it.
A lot of contemporary art is not for mass consumption the way that high fashion is not for street wear. Everything does not have to have mass appeal, and that doesn’t make it unimportant or simple to do. I guarantee if you go to an art museum’s daily tour they will be able to tell you a lot about how these ‘simple’ paintings were made that shows how they weren’t simple at all, and what movement they are in response to/part of that adds much more significance to them.
If you’re going to nitpick about whether they’re really worth $x million, what makes any painting worth more than the canvas it’s on and the paint that makes it up? History? Mass appeal? Appeal to other artists? Appeal to rich people? Artistic self expression? Effort/length of time to make it? Originality?
My toddler doesn’t have any dirty money that need cleaning, so it’s very unlikely her random splashes will sell for millions.
“Expensive abstract paintings are just money laundering” is intellectually lazy and conspiratorial. The entire art world and the IRS aren’t working together to let some people get away with money laundering, but only as long as they use art to do it.
A lot of contemporary art is not for mass consumption the way that high fashion is not for street wear. Everything does not have to have mass appeal, and that doesn’t make it unimportant or simple to do. I guarantee if you go to an art museum’s daily tour they will be able to tell you a lot about how these ‘simple’ paintings were made that shows how they weren’t simple at all, and what movement they are in response to/part of that adds much more significance to them.
If you’re going to nitpick about whether they’re really worth $x million, what makes any painting worth more than the canvas it’s on and the paint that makes it up? History? Mass appeal? Appeal to other artists? Appeal to rich people? Artistic self expression? Effort/length of time to make it? Originality?