Ha! We’re doing it right now, Kathy.

@Michelle Twohig Agreed, but the margin on widgets keep getting thinner. A surplus of art drives prices down for many “regular” artists. A surplus of inexpensive art creates a larger gap between the artists who sell really well and the “working class” artist if you will. There will always be the art super star, the one that sells extremely well, the one with the cool story of misfortunes who somehow got noticed as a visionary and is now adored by important critics. This artist plays on a different level and sells art outside of any system remotely close to normal economics. These are the folks that spit on canvas and sell it for $100k. The other 99% of artists work more as crafts people and desire to get paid a fair price for their artwork. These folks I would argue are susceptible to market forces (although I will admit that art market forces are like non other!). It seems harder and harder to earn a good living off of art amidst so much inexpensive eye candy, prints, art-expos filled with $40 paintings, etc…

John, we have more widgets than we need yet people still create and buy widgets like crazy. I think that’s a non-reason to let get in our way. We just have to get better at connecting our art and the stories behind it to the interests, needs and desires of buyers.

John: I think you’re making a lot of assumptions. There is so much realistic or classical art that I don’t understand.

I believe if you read Saltz and Smith that you would see how vast their net is. They write about ALL art. (See Brian Sherwin’s comments below.)

Thanks for sharing, Theresa. I also think it relates to the Wilde quote (about understanding).