There is something about the gallery sales model that is very broken.. It just kinda hit me, (again) last night^Wmorning, when I was trying to get to sleep.. You can't really put a price tag next to something you have to experience to know the value of.

When I see an art gallery, and there is a price tag.. I always look at the tag. And after, I always realize that was a real dick thing to do. But one cannot really be a lover of art and not be a lover of information. (I think so anyway..) When presented with them both at the same time, it presents an odd conundrum for markets of art (and maybe all information). I have not seen an answer to this problem.

Walking back from the market.. The really big one that has everything cheaper but is farther away then the corner stores that have most of the stuff I need. The one I go to when I'm not in a rush.. The friend I was walking with noticed a little tucked away gallery of rock fountains on the walk back. Great place for it. We ducked in. I gave a quick look at all the pieces, and there were tags.. So I looked at them. Every expensive, first thing I think. Immediately I'm judging these rock fountains like pieces of rock.. Wondering about materials and time.. Shit like that. Wrong chunk of the brain kicks in.. I'm not in a gallery, I'm in Home Depot. The thought process is more then happy to roll on its path, starbucks triple venti latte in hand.

Now, I'm also the last person to be buying a rock fountain. I'm sure that plays in. I definitely don't have the bling to drop on anything like that right now, or a place to put it.. I think the key to all art, is feeling/finding a connection with either the artist, the process of making the art, the process of getting the art "out", or at the very least getting what the art has to say. Its certainly not a well placed display with prices alone. That will only create a more of a market for commodity products.. Not something deeper. The ground we wish to walk on isn't as solid as it appears.

Hmm.. In certain contexts each piece of art is a one-item thing. Its not like music or movies where the entire process is pushed in a the directions of making each viewer of the art pay. Movie tickets, CDs, performing rights tracking, etc.. With these things, its possible to construct a market, I think. And eventually we will. However, the rock fountain people, DougZ, and many others I know will still have a problem.. There is no market for artists. Just product.

These are old thoughts.. Others have pounded the same points. I know, I've read it all somewhere before.