COMING SOON!
The mighty painting!
March 2, 2008 - 4 Responses
John: Hey sudhi! Howz it going?
Me: Hey John. I am doing good. Life’s been a lil hectic off late.. but anyhow, how come you are here in my dream?
John: Well you know, I was wondering about this one questions I came up with in my Philosophy class and since I couldn’t get a hold of you during regular school hours, I felt I might infiltrate your dreams!!!!
Me: AAH!!!! … ok. go on.
John: Ok. Suppose, that you like an artist’s work, let’s say for the sake of simplicity, Pablo Picasso, and you decided to go to an art gallery and buy a painting you loved at first sight, which is signed by Picasso. You end up paying almost over a million dollars and hang it up in the middle of your living room so that you can show it to all your friends and make them feel jealous. But, one day a friend of yours comes and says that the painting is a forgery since he owns an exact replica of the same painting and he saw Picasso sign it. Also, he knows for a fact that Picasso didn’t make two of the same kind. How do you feel when you hear this statement?
Me: Well John, I would feel cheated. Then I would go back to the art gallery and take up the matter with them. If required, I would even play the ‘legal card’.
John: Interesting. Now, Why might you do that? I mean, sure you over paid for the painting, but then you never got to know that it was a fake until your friend told you.
Me: Well then it is true, but then I paid for Picasso’s painting.. not some street urchin who could just run the brush up and down on a canvas!
John: Well sudhi, I said in the beginning that you bought the painting because you liked the way it looked. So are you telling me that you bought the painting just because of the Artist and not because of the meaning it contained in itself? So, in other words, are you paying for the fame the artist has?
Me: Well no. You are right, I bought the painting because I liked it. But, think about this. When Picasso painted the painting, he had a certain motivation to do so. But when this other guy forged it, all he cared was to make it look exactly like the original one and make the millions that he would have never dreamt off!
John: Aah! so now you are telling me that the artist’s meaning matters.
Me: Of course it does!
John: Ok sudhi. Here take a look, now what do you see in this ? {Showing him an abstract painting}
Me: Well this is a very abstract painting. It seems that the human figures are actually women, and since the faces are hazed out, it seems that it is making a social commentary in the 20th century. It is showing us what the role of women was in the society.
John: You know sudhi, I think you will understand my point now. This painting was painted by a 10 year old girl. She had just received these amazing water colors and she wanted to paint something and see how it looked. Now, you see, she never intended it to have any of the meanings you extracted from this piece of ‘art’; but does it mean that whatever you said was wrong? Of course not!. It is said that meaning is created when the piece of art work is viewed. So, what I am trying to say is that it usually doesn’t matter what the artist intends his artwork to portray. At the end it’s all up to the person who is receiving the art. It’s all about what the person sees in it. Now I ask you again, why would you get annoyed at buying a forgery which looks exactly like the original one in all dimensions?
Me: John, I guess it’s not about the meaning now. I guess it’s about the currency and rarity of the object. Now, I know for a fact that most painters paint a piece of art only once! Now, when I bought this painting, I looked at different variables before saying that ‘I LOVE IT!’
I looked at the meaning it contained in itself, and then I thought, this is the original masterpiece, so no one could ever have it if I bought it. So I decided to buy it under the condition that I would be the sole owner of the painting!
John: Let me twist the question a little. Had the name “Pablo Picasso” not been on the painting. In fact let it not have any signature at the bottom of the picture, would you still be willing to buy it for the same price? Since you said that any painter would never paint two pieces more than once, the above parameters you set still hold good, so you should have no hesitation in buying it. Right?
Me: NO WAY!
John: Why not? you still like the picture, but just that it doesn’t have Pablo Picasso’s name. Does it mean that you are paying for the name rather than the painting itself?
Me: I guess so.
John: Well sudhi you know, don’t feel defeated! we all do it. We do it every single day. Suppose you go to circuit city and want to buy a home theater system. Which one would you rather buy? The one with a good brand name and quality or the one with a ‘not so known’ brand name with the same quality? It is a basic human instinct, to go with the name. Not so often do we see people actually comparing specs of branded objects vs specs of unbranded objects; it seems that such items are incomparable! Wise men always say “don’t go by the name”, we just never tend to listen!
John: Sudhi! Thanks for your time. I guess it’s time for you to go back to sleep! Nice talking to you again!
Me: No problem John. Anytime!
Peeps, this is my first article ever. Please comment and let me know where I can improve!
I know you can point out a bunch!!!
Thanks to Ilya F. and Andreas M. For having contributed their thoughts on this issue.
