You Won’t Make Money From Buying Art, But Rich People Can — And Do | Complexify

We dipped our brushes in the art world’s oily pigments, blending abstract investment schemes and bizarre internet masterpieces to bring you an unvarnished portrait of the trade. Here’s what we learned.

VICE News’ “Complexify” series takes you down the rabbit hole, to show you why just about everything is more convoluted than you think.



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[deathwizard]

Art teachers: anime is not art
Some guy: I just sold a banana duck Tape to a wall for billions of dollars

[xmmsdld]

It's just a way for people to launder money.

[elveheim]

Why not buy a school in Africa and give a lot of children a free education. That would be art in my eyes.

[sanbetski]

This is just an excuse to launder money and avoid taxes for the rich people

[BothHands]

always with these rich people, laundering money, dodging taxes, and stealing from the poor. just rich people things

[brevobrevo]

Depressing that only 15% of artists make over 10k in a year. It’s a hard gig to crack and even harder now that almost everything has been done by someone else

[Joshyohmygoshy]

Well this is a perfect way to start my poor Saturday, while doing overtime.

[JayenXPiyona]

Da Vinci and Picasso be silent ever since the Banana in the wall came out

[____Rahaf]

The sad part isn’t about “the mediocre so called art” it’s that there are true talented artists in the world that aren’t discovered and probably will not be discovered because they don’t have the opportunity to showcase their art!

[BizzeeB]

I buy a lot of original art because I like to look at it, but this video does a great job of clarifying why I shouldn't expect to make any money off of selling it - the people who would be inclined to buy the artists I collect aren't rich, so there's no reason for my pieces to appreciate.

[neyedol]

One of the better vice vids - entertaining and immediately forgettable. Welcome to YouTube.

[dcarroll]

This is the perfect example of people with too much money

[pest]

'Banana on wall' is amateur hour. When I went to a Hunter College MFA program, I saw master pieces like 'shoe insole on wall', 'piece of tape on wall', and 'half empty whiskey bottle on wall'.

[EwYoureCringe]

Another thing rich people will do is they will donate paintings to get tax write offs. The paintings can be seriously over valued and way more than anyone would ever pay for, but since they are donating it, no one cares.

[EwYoureCringe]

Patronage also has a huge affect on the value of art. Jay-Z brags about he buys paintings and then sells them for a lot more money, but no matter what painting he bought the value would increase simply bc Jay Z owned it...

[tylerhackner]

Feels like there’s more money involved than sense lol

[bariizlam]

“Ass, it’s a chance to see the world from a new perspective!”- I thought that’s what he said in the beginning of the video!! You

[SKgyebaek]

i just stuck a banana on the wall wheres my 6 figure cheque

[unclejeffthechad]

I have an oId rotten French Cheese in my fridge.
I wonder if it will be accepted as an interesting art for rich peopIe...

[InvestOrama]

Amazingly well edited and researched, now I wish I could level up my own video on art investing