Darren Waterston "Gothic Arch" Click to enlarge
So I was in this fancy antique mall the other day (the same site as the Fuseli debacle) perusing expensive trinketry, when I started thinking about perceived value. I think a dealer had some Prada bags or something in their case, and I was thinking how even though it's a trendy and "desirable" thing (fashion-wise) I would never ever spend 2k on a designer handbag even though I would use it everyday. However, I would spend that on a painting and think I got a deal. I might spend $300 on a toucan skull, but not on a pair of jeans or a fancy piece of cookware (that stuff I buy for cheap). Contrarily, I'd rather spend more money on an antique chinese table (or better yet, snag one at a garage sale), rather than buying a perfectly good table at IKEA. This is due to my perceived value of things. I want stuff that not everyone else can go and buy, which is why as much as I love, say, IKEA, I get nauseated shopping there picking out the exact same things a million other people are picking out. The same way I would never want and expensive handbag any shmoe with money to burn could buy (not to mention the fact those bags are actually cheap pieces of crap). Perhaps I am a snob. Pretty much all my money goes to paintings and travel. What do you consider a worthwhile expense?
7 comments:
If not useful everyday things like purses or jeans, can you spend money on shoes? Shoes are nice.
When I was younger it was easy to spend vast amounts of cash collecting hard to find music, rare 7"s and the like, or when I started to make REAL money it became about collecting all the robots I never got for xmas as a child.
Nowadays, art is definitely a big one, but mostly its just weird junk that I find. Mummified owl? I need that! Pocket watch with something resembling a skeksi carved on it? Of course! Antique furniture with inlays that look like bugs, bizarre trike with a canopy and bimbo monkeys on the back, hand embroidered wall hanging tapestry thingy of Gandalf with heavy metal lettering and everything (I really don't know what I'm going to do with that one...), etc.
Meanwhile, my jeans have holes in them, my car looks like it just got back from beyond thunderdome, but I've got artwork, robots, and 7"s that could support me for years.
And a bag of mummified owls..
Gooby- I can dig it!
Art is a luxury to own, but a necessity to see.
I can barely make rent each month, so buying anything beyond food and the occassional new pair of underwear is out of the question.
I've been buying antique frames,
19th century photographs,
antique optical devices, and rare art books, . . .I would collect more art, if I had more cash, . . .I'm trading for art these days, . . .only stuff i like, . . .my next acquisition will be an Amy Sol.
Jim Gurney is supposed to give me a dinosaur painting.
" Jim Gurney is supposed to give me a dinosaur painting."
Yeah- whatever Travis.
*jealous*
:)
I love your blog. Please never stop. Thank you.
i have a physical reaction every time i set foot in ikea. which is not to say that i don't own some of their handy furniture pieces, but i get a headache and dizzy nonetheless.
i am neither an artist nor an art collector but the sentiments of this post are applicable to so many aspects of our over-consuming world. i dig it.
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