cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Am I the only one who doesn't (apparently) understand fine art? To me, one well done photo of a good looking or interesting person (not necessarily semantically equal) beats anything Picasso ever did; but his sell for millions and the photo is free. And a nice shot of a colorful canyon somewhere is so far above the spilled mess that is Pollock that they are not even in the same universe. I repeat, is it just my like of taste or intelligence that the art "experts" ascribe to me, or are they related to TV evangelists?

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

Art in the eye of the beer holder, opps I mean the beholder.

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

I am thinking you are drawing too quick of a conclusion- Yes some art/paintings are considered by some as perfect and are willing to pay big money for them - I'm not one of them - also there are many photos that too are magnificent and bring big prices - again I'm not of the class to buy them -BUT I sure enjoy them as much as a fine painting - to me the photos are captured reality and some do exceptionally well doing it.
I would take an album of photos from our member Blacks2 any day over anyone's paintings.

I have seen great paintings of some of the places I have photoed but to me they are not real enough.

foodie65

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Please don't insult TV Evangelists.

rwoodvira

I was a fine art dealer for many years, primarily representing American artist estates. Fine art is a very broad category. My favorite period is impressionism, but I also appreciate some modern art - I'm not a big Picasso fan, except for his very early work, but I love the work of Matisse. Understand that a lot of very expensive works have been pushed by dealers. A very good book to give you an overall view of what the types of art there are is the Annotated Mona Lisa - I have the 1992 edition which you can pick up fairly cheap. I often told people that Modern Art is an acquired taste; I usually used the example of dill pickles. I hated them at first, now I love them.

I have a very good friend who hated any Modern Art - I once brought in a very colorful Abstract to my office and hung it upside down. I then wrote down what he would say: "The artist must of been having a very bad day - my grandchildren could paint something better than that, etc."I said did you really look at it, he said sure. I then said I guess you missed the artist's signature is upside down. He walked off in a huff.

With the advent of digital and programs such as Photoshop, photos are often now nothing about realty. We can modify nature, making it brighter or darker, as seen or distorted. Often these big prices paid for works are about one-man upmanship; one collector buying something that another collector wanted. My late partner used to get ticked at me when I told clients that they should look around and see what they like; collect what you like. You might lose the one sale, but you probably made a client for like.

If you get a chance take a look at the book, you might just find something you like. I often use what I've seen to affect what I photo. PS If you want to know my favorite painting it's here: https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/101764.html. If you want me to explain why, I really couldn't tell you. I try to visit once or twice a year. Apologies for the long note.

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

I believe they are twins LOL.
My very biased opinion is that it was all for money. Pollock, Picasso and their contemporaries was no way comparable to real masters like Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci but hype and business forced them to be desirable to people with money. Much like the diamond scam of de-beers. Diamond being made of carbon is a very common substance and can be manufactured to much purer form by laboratories. But they managed thru advertisement to make them very valuable to the masses. Try selling it back to them and see the huge drop in value.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Amen

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I believe if you become a master at a craft, be it photography, painting, sculpting, pottery, etc. you can expect to be rewarded for your work. An original print hand processed by Ansel Adams and signed would bring quite a few bucks! I too have wondered at some of the stupid stuff that has been presented as art but not at the great artists such as Picasso. Another aspect of this is that most of the great works that bring millions of dollars are because they are rare. Look at the 1933 Double Eagle US coin -- 7.6 million dollars! I would rather have a Picasso hanging on my wall than a framed coin!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I feel that the name of the person doing the work affects the value of the work more than just the quality of the work. Some time ago, a local gallery featured photographs by Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac). To attend the opening, one had to pledge to purchase at least one of the photographs. These were selling for thousands of dollars each. I viewed some of the works sometime after the opening. They were nice, but nothing overly special. There are folks on this site who's work is equal to or surpasses that of the works presented there. However, a lot more people recognize the name Mick Fleetwood as opposed to most everyone on this or other photo sites.
--Bob

JDG3

Interesting perspective. I do not agree on all points and I certainly do not understand fine art but there are pieces of fine art that I do enjoy. It is also interesting to look at this perspective in a generational perspective. Many of the younger generation today have little use for still photography other than sending photos (selfies) over their phones. They see traditional photography as something only "old people" do and prefer only video or their cell phone posed photos. Their view of traditional photography is near to what many of us think of older fine art by the masters, quaint, old fashioned and irrelevant.

A few will do urban or city photography but it is often centered around video and still captures from video. Did you not ever wonder why so many of our modern DSLRs and almost all the newer mirrorless cameras now do video and are wifi connected? The camera companies are already looking to the future and playing to the likes of the upcoming generation.

repleo Loc: Boston

It is your lack of taste.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Never seen a Picasso that looked any good to you? Maybe you need to look a little deeper. I just posted two Picasso nudes that I liked elsewhere in this forum.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Think about it. Every stroke a painter applies goes from his brain through his brush to the painting with much internal struggle, decisions and emotion and all paintings are one of a kind. Photos are instantaneous and endlessly reproduceable.