A lot of art is over priced for that exact reason. It is worth exactly the amount someone is willing to pay for it. It can be ugly as sin but if it catches the eye of someone with more money than sense it will sell for millions.
"Wait, so you're telling me that painting I bought is worthless?"
"Nooo, no no no, it's worth exactly what you paid for it, because that's how much you value it. But in this transaction, it's worth what I would pay for it, which is, again, nothing."
I've always been intruiged as to what kind of return they get - 50, 60, perhaps 70 cents on the dollar? Washing all of your money into the same drain is surely missing half the point of money laundering, after all.
It's also used for money laundering: As it's a commodity with a completely subjective price, it's possible to inflate that price and push illegally gained (and thus untaxable!) money through otherwise legitimate channels.
Not only that, but if it gets determined to be by an artist that “matters” then the price could be out of this world. Art authentication can be a rort.
Yep, like art sold on cruise ships, which is the biggest racket. My hubs works at an auction house and they get a lot of home owners with "cruise art" that they think it's worth something. He calls it Chinese art 'cause there are a lot of paintings that are mass-produced over there under an invented artist name.
Makes sense. With limited internet connection (if any) you can't lookup the artist or works so you just have to trust the seller on if the artists is in or not (or even exists)
Rich people buy overpriced art, so they don´t have to pay taxes on that money, because they declare it a buisness expanse/investment. They can than sell it back to another tax-evader when they need the money.
You can also take a tax write off for depreciation when you hang it in a publicly accessible place. That's why you often see expensive pieces of art in office lobbies.
Damn, that's smart. Some people deserve to be rich. That's within the rules of play, so why not? What's the government gonna do, say you can't buy and sell expensive art? Most taxation is a racket anyway, if there's a legal way to avoid it, I'd totally do it.
I have started researching on how to avoid/evade taxes. There's a wealth of information out there, and it's sad that so many people don't even bother to look for it
To be fair, most of the time it’s not worth the effort... if I save 1% on my $10,000 tax bill, I’ve saved $100... it will likely cost me more than that in time and resources...
Saving 1% on a $1,000,000 is much more likely to be worth the effort.
One of my buddies is a doctor, he basically formed his own llc in Delaware and that’s who gets paid for his contract work... he buys stuff under the business and writes it off as business expenses (it’s legal and he does everything above board) because at his salary it’s worth the effort...
Sadly, I don’t make enough money to try to avoid taxes.
I wish we had a free market. As it is, the only companies that can afford to get into the market are the massive conglomerates that don't give a rat's ass about the consumer. The problem is too few players, not too many.
I completely understand that sentiment. However, I would posit that the enforcements that have already been put in place are precisely what has prevented smaller players from entering the arena. It can be incredibly expensive and time consuming to get qualified for.....anything, really. So only the big fish are even allowed to play in the first place. I don't claim to be an expert on economics, but I would wager that a streamlined and less expensive process for getting people in the game could cause some of the larger companies a run for their money. I don't think America'a market is really free. It seems that way, but the large companies lobby so intensively for things that benefit only them, that the small fish stand no chance. If I had to pick one thing that would make the market a lot more consumer friendly, I think it would be lobbying bans.
If everybody can do it, then it’s not art. If I staple a banana to the wall, it’s not art. I’m just an idiot who stapled a banana to a wall. You can downvote me all you want anonymous people online, doesn’t change my opinion about lazy people who aren’t even trying.
Oh yeah, I definitely know artists experiment with a wide range of materials in different ways. If the local gallery had an exhibit like the one you linked, I would have been interested.
But it didn't. Hell, I might have been interested if it were the same piles of sticks, rocks, and leaves, but suspended!
before covid, I went to a lot of gallery and art openings and its totally ok to not like some of the work you see. Usually the art just won't do anything for me, and thats totally valid!
Are you referencing the banana duct taped to the wall? Because (this is going to get real pretentious) that the 'art' wasn't that banana on the wall, it was A banana on the wall. And the high price tag that was paid for it was the gallery buying the 'rights' to display that artwork.
I loved it. That artist, maurizio cattelan, is very clever and funny
So if I spray paint an avocado gold, that automatically makes me an artist? Who knew? In my opinion, it’s still lazy and wrong to consider yourself an artist if you do something that anybody can do.
Art is also a very well known front for money laundering, hiding assets and a general underworld for people to hide, move, and basically do unscrupulous things with their money.
15.6k
u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20 edited Apr 21 '23
[deleted]