Finding the Middle Ground when Purchasing Artwork
Hesitating between the Arts of Music and Painting, 1791 by Angelika Kauffmann
In today’s world of art, we hear many complaints both from consumers and artists themselves. The rise of technology has brought about new norms for selling one’s work, be it in the form of a song or a painting. This even prompted the creation of separate words for each industry. For instance, there is show business music and soul revealing music and there is art vs entertainment. The same division is seen in the world of fine art since some people refuse to share the term painting with those who do certain forms of digital art and for a good reason too.
However, when it comes to fine art, we must admit that there is no fine line that separates these two because you can find an artist that pours their soul out by making complex illustration artwork and in order to bring it closer to a wider audience, decides to sell it in more copies for less, online. This is not the same case as the division in the music industry where 15 heads come together with no inspiration whatsoever and make a song with the same old 4 chords the average Joe is used to hearing all the time and a few meaningless lines, most often targeting trivialities and perpetuating immoral behavior.
It’s easy to come to the conclusion that in the new dawn of fine art, the past and present collide immensely, however, we must try to find the middle ground since both the artists and the empty walls are starving. The most noble thing an art lover can do is to attend gallery events and buy that one original piece for the price that matches its exclusiveness. However, not everyone is able to spend so much money on artworks, so should we just get some cheap prints instead? This is where the middle ground comes to save the day. Artists are aware that the scene has changed and so have they (the majority of them, that is). This means that you can find online galleries that are in fact a portal to the world of many unique artists who showcase and sell their unique illustrated artwork pieces for somewhat affordable prices.
By choosing this middle ground, you may not get a piece from a physical gallery of some extremely renowned artist that will cost you an arm and leg, but you also won’t be compromising the worth of this field by opting for cheap digital prints, the nature of which is to be available and affordable in bulk.
