Review: The Price of Everything

An examination of the controversial relationship between art and high finance, Nathaniel Kahn’s insightful and nonjudgmental documentary The Price of Everything understands both sides of the sticky arguments being presented. Looking at the astronomically expensive world of high end modern art from the perspective of craftspeople and investors alike, The Price of Everything depicts the symbiotic relationship between artists who desperately want to make a living and wealthy investors who see the pieces produced as if they were stocks in a portfolio. While some people interviewed by Kahn throughout his latest film have strong feelings one way or the other on the matters at hand, the film itself shows that divorcing one’s feelings about art as a commodity to be traded isn’t as simple as it looks.

Until the mid-twentieth century, auction houses and museum buyers were panicked with thoughts that the well of masterpieces in the art world had dried up. The modern art movement that arose – led by the likes of Haring, Warhol, and Basquiat – was initially dismissed. Notable auction titans Christie’s weren’t allowed to bring any modern art onto their premises, let alone sell it. But once some of these twentieth century works started selling from increasingly and exponentially large sums, many in the art world began to change their tune. It wasn’t long before some of the wealthiest people in the world started using modern art as a place to keep their money; storing it away, touring it, or hanging it on their walls as investments.

Almost all of the artists interviewed for The Price of Everything give the same line when asked how they feel about their works being sold for tens of millions of dollars. Like most artists, they’re all about the work and they want to keep themselves separated from the business side of things. Conversely, while many of the one-percenter investors Kahn speaks to invest with an eye towards their personal artistic tastes, many others invest with their ears, noting what works and artists are on the financial rise. Some investors balance art with their commerce, while others simply want a place to keep their money that isn’t a bank or a corporation; a clever way to skirt the taxman if one can afford it. In most cases, an artist can stand to make up to fifty percent of what their work sells for at auction. In the case of some re-sales, they can make almost nothing, with the bulk of the inflated price tag going back into the pocket of the initial investor.

Kahn’s interest lies not in poking holes in the arguments of artists who wish to stay poor for the purity of their work or high rollers who squirrel some of the world’s greatest masterpieces for use in their own private collections. Kahn would much rather look at how one half of this unlikely relationship can’t survive anymore without the other. While there are some interview subjects that Kahn is clearly approaching with a great deal of skepticism (but never snark), there’s a reasoned understanding given towards both sides of the argument.

When famed German artist Gerhard Richter sees some of his work about to go on the auction block, he bemoans that he’d much rather see the paintings go to a museum than a private collector or speculator. Kahn immediately follows Richter’s statement with a remark from an auction house manager whose response to the artist’s stance is as harsh as it is reasoned. While Richter has made a commendable artistic and socialist opinion about how we consume art, the auctioneer notes that museums often hide a lot of their best works away from public eyes for decades on end, effectively mimicking many investors. At least if one of Richter’s paintings is in the collection of a private collector, there’s more of a chance someone will appreciate it on a daily basis, and that the sale will make the work more culturally relevant and desirable in the first place.

The Price of Everything asks tough questions of those who speculate in the art world with the same “buy low and sell high” mentality as the stock market, but many of these investors fully realize that they could be participating in the construction of a bubble that could burst at any moment. They are the tastemakers who create and drive buzz for certain artists and creative movements, and they can also destroy them by simply selling any number of their “shares.” They diversify their collections in ways similar to hedge fund managers, never having too many works from a single artist, region, or discipline. There’s a science to all of it, but such discipline has turned art shows into trader’s markets.

Kahn doesn’t pretend to fully comprehend the sheer amount of wealth he’s confronted with throughout The Price of Everything, but he has tremendous empathy for many of the artists willing to talk to him about how speculation has adversely impacted the way art is produced and consumed. With some living artists seeing their works as sparking feeding frenzies among investors, there’s a fear of over-producing and saturating the market unnecessarily with subpar works, a worry that has driven Nigerian artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby almost to the point of burnout. Painter Larry Poons, Kahn’s most endearing interview subject, speaks out frequently about his belief that art and business should never connect, but his once overlooked and dismissed works are about to see an uptick in their profitability because they’ve become “undervalued” over time, making them prime pickings for investors. And in the case of Jeff Koons – who might be the most successful artist of his time on paper (and who comes across the worst of any subjects on either side of the divide here) – some artists have become tacky luxury brands. Koons still has a lot of grand ideas, but he’s clearly more invested in money than art at this point. He doesn’t even physically craft many of his latest works, delegating the actual artistic construction to any number of his massive staff. Still, they sell just as well as they ever have.

One doesn’t need to understand or appreciate either art or commerce to become captivated by The Price of Everything. Kahn presents all sides of the subject in such a fascinating and concise manner that his documentary is as educational as it is entertaining, and even though he can’t explore every aspect of the industry within the rigorous confines of a single feature film. What emerges is a somewhat perverse world where money is placed above artistic intent, and it all kind of makes sense. You don’t have to agree about the use of artworks as investment tools to understand The Price of Everything, but it makes one realize the value of everything being talked about. It’s a fascinating film that will change the way one looks at modern art and make people question both artistic and financial intent.

The Price of Everything opens at The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto and The Vic in Victoria on Friday, November 23, 2018. It opens at Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa on December 9.

Check out the trailer for The Price of Everything: