"While art and luxury enjoy their merry little dance, art and democracy have never seemed further apart."

A couple of weeks ago,a piece by Lucien Frued garnered $33.6 million. The most earned for a single piece of art by any living artist. Perhaps its just because I've recently taken to reading the Financial Times on the weekend, but I've become aware of what a hot commodity art collecting has become. In a world where many people have extra income that they're looking for creative ways to spend and invest - the art world seems more a marketplace then ever. I suppose it is a good avenue to invest money - but I just can't wrap my head around putting that much money into a single painting. I can't fathom investing that much money in general. If the rich people in the world stopped some of their stowing away and started turning those dollars even more towards things such as, oh, eradicating world hunger perhaps...it seems those dollars would be much better spent.

This is one reason why I like street art. It's created outside any purpose of monetary gain (well, so to speak at least...this article notes the increasing demand for "urban" art in the marketplace.) One street artist quoted in Sticker City said they make art for "the sheer joy of reaching out, entertaining, or surprising also comes comes into play...I would like to make as many people laugh, without resorting to selling them anything or demanding anything from them." I like the idea of the artists who painted icons within the church when that was an active practice. Icon painting was seen as a form of worship and teaching. Painters created works as a form of devotion and wouldn't have thought of signing their name to it - for it was God's handiwork more then their own.

Any abilities we have, whether that be creativity, business sense, culinary skills, or whatever - it would be nice if we recognized those things as gifts and thereby held their fruits less selfishly.