Jeff Wall photo sells for $3.6 Million!

[andrewr]

I'm sure most of you have seen the news by now, but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on the record setting price paid for the photograph by Vancouver photographer Jeff Wall this week.

Here's the post from our homepage: http://www.canphoto.net/jeff-wall-ph...s-3-6-million/

[Peter Wm. Richardson]

Hi Andrew:
"There is no accounting for some peoples taste and other peoples lack of it." As for the amount paid, it is ludicrous, but more power to him I suppose. Having worked for a number of years in the art world, I can tell you that some people will pay anything to confirm their belief that something is"art". Personally, I find the whole art scene to be pretentious and routinely boring to the point of insanity. Still, if you can milk the system for all it is worth, voila! $3.6 mill can be had for the taking. Call me a cynic, but I just can not bring myself to accept this type of work as either art or worth 3.6 million anything, let alone dollars.
Peter
Peter Wm. Richardson
Photojournalist/Curmudgeon
peterw@journalist.com

[Alastair]

It's too bad Jeff Wall won't see any of that $3.6 million. I think it's great if someone wants to spend that much money on a photograph - it's strange and I don't really get it, but then I don't get how someone could spend that much on a standard house in Vancouver. However, in both cases, it happens with alarming regularity.

[andrewr]

Originally Posted by Alastair

It's too bad Jeff Wall won't see any of that $3.6 million.

Didn't I read something recently about legislation or something that would give artists a percentage of all future sales of their work? It's was probably an American thing, but I honestly don't remember.

[Alastair]

It's my understanding that any subsequent sales of art are beyond the reach of the original artist. I'm sure Edward Munch's family would have loved to get a piece of that $120million paid for 'The Scream' last week..

[andrewr]

I knew I'd read something about this. Here's an article from the Star in March:

"This month, a joint parliamentary committee of Heritage and Industry ministry staff are reviewing a CARFAC-proposed amendment to the Canadian Copyright Act that would give living artists a five per cent royalty on all sales of their work after its original sale. Had the royalty been in place last November, CARFAC notes, 35 living artists would have been paid more than $98,000 in royalties from three auctions that month."

http://www.toronto.com/article/71648...re-sale-rights

[shawnartistic]

Actually speaking, the price paid for the photograph is surprising for sure, but I must tell you one thing that for some people, passion and art can't be compared with money. For them, art is the most amazing thing and the person who has bought the pic surely falls in the same category. This is the main reason behind that high price.

[Alastair]

Some people have a lot of extra cash. Or some people have a lot of cash that they're happy to blow on fine art, I suppose. The Fine Art world is a completely different animal to the commercial world.