What is the true price of art?

First and foremost, as an artist you need supplies. You can't create without supplies. With all the media under the sun to choose from, how do you decide? Is it quality or the deal you can get, so you can actually make a living on your art? Do you cut corners or only settle for the best? Maybe your media utilizes recycled or repurposed materials. That still requires some sort of expenditure, in time or fuel. No matter which route you go, there is an initial cost before you even start.

If you are lucky, your media doesn't require costly supplies. Some of us have to deal with huge mark ups on supplies because they are specialized or inconsequential to the average consumer. Lower demand due to a smaller market niche means the products don't fly off the shelves. So we get charged extra for things that are exclusively tools of the trade. Everybody wants a piece of the pie.

Then, one has to worry with the level or quality of said supplies. Do you buy what you feel comfortable with, or do you shoot for the most expensive brands because they are bound to be the best simply because of their price tags? For example, if you are a painter, between Student, Intermediate, and Professional Grades of paint, where do you fall? Are you concerned about archival quality products, light fastness, enduring techniques, durable adhesives and if your creation will hang in the Louvre 125 years after you are dead?

Next, you have to pour your soul onto the canvas, into the sculpture, into your glass or studio jewelry piece. You expose the inner workings of your brain. How you think, tick, function is bared for all to see. You are naked, stripped, there for people to judge, criticize, or, dare I say, love? Our life experiences are integral to our creations. These things are not just produced without emotion, but rather born out of thought, introspection, and a personal viewpoint. They can be an expression of our personal emotion, a commentary on the lives of others, local or world events, or the manifestation of an indeterminate concept.

If we are successful, they can make the viewer smile, cry, gasp with identification of the subject matter, or perhaps open their mind to a different viewpoint than what they thought was unquestionable in their hearts. If our art moves people in some way, we have fulfilled our purpose and accomplished the ultimate objective.

When you find that special someone that needs to own this passionate object born of your inspiration, how do you calculate your price? [1]

I can't answer that question for you, but I can tell you the cost of art. The true cost of art is:

The Artist.

So many people devalue art as simply decor. These same people are the ones who don't think twice about saying "Oh I could do that", right to an artist’s face. There are an abundance of people who are so critical of artists. Disparaging remarks such as "get real a job", and "is this what qualifies as art?", or "that’s digital - it's not art", can make us wonder why do we bother?

Why rip our souls and create with them, as if we had 50 more in the back ready to ship? Why? Because we must. Because if we cannot create, we lose ourselves. Because if we can’t create art, we will perish.

Art is priceless. So are the Artists.