ABSTRACT
Can we compare the commodification of art, and it’s separation for the artist into a market economy based on a banal materiality, to the divide between humans and nature? Is there a relationship of the heart between creativity and how we live in the environment? Do emotions play a role in our decisions about how to live, work and make things? When art is only a product to be invested in, like a stock on the market, and the strings of the system are pulled by the same small one per cent that has stirred anger and protests across the United States. Since the Wall Street scandals plaguing the first quarter of this century, can the artist remain invested wholeheartedly in the work? If a collector sits on the board of a major museum, and his collection (it IS usually a man1) contains Artist X, then naturally his inclination will be to put Artist X in the museum, which will increase the value of his own painting at home by said artist. It is an old monopoly and a very old game. The lack of diversity on boards, leadership positions in the art world and even staff, all point to a power structure that is reflective of that small one per cent, and of not the artists.
