How far do we go for something we love?
We are exploring how the "art world" manufactures value through exclusivity, commodification, and speculative markets. Subsequently, if artists are behind value creation in the arts, why do we avoid discussing wealth among our peers?
Luisa Ji | Feb 19, 2025 | Dispatch #2
How much are you willing to pay for love or a proxy for love? The success of an artist is often told in ambition, hardship, and sacrifice in service to the craft. Art is a labour of love and one of setting the goal and chasing the dream.
The artist—the girl boss—born to touch moss, forced to realize her fullest potential.
When the ultimate measure of worth in the arts is professionalizing one’s practice (I wish to make art full time) and producing art as commodities (I wish my art sells at a good price), do we lose our love for creation in this process? What happens when art—something experienced, felt, and often what makes life meaningful—solidifies as an asset to be measured, bought, and sold?
This week’s dispatch explores the price of creative labour and the elusive financial autonomy for artists.