I think you’re right: I have heard this claimed widely about Art, that part of the product and its value is the story of who made it, when and why, who’s in it, who commissioned it, who previously owned it, and so forth. This is probably more true at the expensive pinnacles of the Art market, but it’s still going to apply within specific subcultures. That’s why forgeries are disliked: objectively they look just like the original artist’s work, but the story component is a lie.
More generally, luxury goods have a namber of weird economic properties, one of which is that there’s a requirement that they be rare. Consider the relative value of natural diamonds or other gemstones, vs synthetic ones that are objectively of higher clarity and purity with fewer inclusions: the latter is an objectively better product but people are willing to pay a lot less for it. People pay a lot more for the former, because they’re ’natural”, which is really because they’re rare and this a luxury/status symbol. I think this is an extension of my category 5. — rather then the human artist acting as your status symbol in person as I described above, a piece of their art that you commissioned and took them a couple of days to make just for you is hanging on your wall (or hiding in your bedroom closet, as the case may be).
There are basically three reasons to own a piece of art: 1) that’s nice to look at 2) I feel proud of owning it 3) other people will think better of me because I have it and show it off The background story doesn’t affect 1), but it’s important for 2) and 3).
This might also be part of why there’s a tendency for famous artists to be colorful characters: that enhances the story part of the value of their art.
I think you’re right: I have heard this claimed widely about Art, that part of the product and its value is the story of who made it, when and why, who’s in it, who commissioned it, who previously owned it, and so forth. This is probably more true at the expensive pinnacles of the Art market, but it’s still going to apply within specific subcultures. That’s why forgeries are disliked: objectively they look just like the original artist’s work, but the story component is a lie.
More generally, luxury goods have a namber of weird economic properties, one of which is that there’s a requirement that they be rare. Consider the relative value of natural diamonds or other gemstones, vs synthetic ones that are objectively of higher clarity and purity with fewer inclusions: the latter is an objectively better product but people are willing to pay a lot less for it. People pay a lot more for the former, because they’re ’natural”, which is really because they’re rare and this a luxury/status symbol. I think this is an extension of my category 5. — rather then the human artist acting as your status symbol in person as I described above, a piece of their art that you commissioned and took them a couple of days to make just for you is hanging on your wall (or hiding in your bedroom closet, as the case may be).
There are basically three reasons to own a piece of art:
1) that’s nice to look at
2) I feel proud of owning it
3) other people will think better of me because I have it and show it off
The background story doesn’t affect 1), but it’s important for 2) and 3).
This might also be part of why there’s a tendency for famous artists to be colorful characters: that enhances the story part of the value of their art.
In my attempted summary of the discussion, I rolled this into Category 5.