Art and Value

We live in a culture determined by worth.  We collect things because of valueness as it relates to currency.  Art has become none other than stock exchange- the object has become more important than the concept.  But what if art is not an object.  What if art was thought of as a bridge that connects multiple realities.  The reality, or conceptual creation, can only be attained by traveling this bridge- leading to the sublime.  An object is something we understand.  It a tangible real thing.  “Money culture depends on symbolic reality.  It depends on a confusion between the object and what the object represents” (Winterson).  Art has become a status symbol, a way to show one’s peers individual net worth.  Money culture is a large part of westernized civilization and while capitalists believe art to be an object, or a symbol of wealth- there are still many who view art as an idea, rather than an object.  Art can be seen as a valued object because it serves as a physical bridge into the reality of the original creator.  Through churches, art served as a bridge into the divine world.  Although art is viewed as an object to most, it still has the potential to lead the viewer to the sublime.  The sublime is the object, and the concept that creates new truth.  


Bibliography

Winterson, Jeanette. Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery. New York: Vintage International, 1995.

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