I believe so, is this because art is raw in recording the human condition?
Why does art not teach us that art is for everyone? Banksy places his|their art on the streets, but is it now crushed by the monetary value, attracting vultures ready to restore it brick by brick in return for a large amount of money. I feel like Banksy is the Kurt Cobain of the graffiti world a victim to his own success. When does it stop being about the art work and start being about the dollars?
Where does art live? should it be held in volts of private collectors, museums, galleries, on the streets, in our homes?
Who should own art? only the rich, art educated, privileged?
Who should make art? How do we record our history shall we start making art to record our legacies? before they fade into dust.
The Drying Room Blog 
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently Sheree. I went to see the Beep Painting Prize exhibition at the Elysium Gallery in Swansea yesterday. It was a fabulous show of paintings, mostly on canvas and mainly figurative. What struck me was the large size of many of the canvases and the monetary values associated with them. Not many people would be able to afford either the money or the room to display them. It seemed like an ‘elephant in the room’ in that the philosophy of Elysium is one of making art accessible, and providing affordable studio spaces.
I understand that we as artists have a value to society and need to be able to live and eat, but I do not understand why we price and make art only for those that can afford it. Success it seems is still tied into monetary value, and being picked up by collectors. There seems to be a sense that it can only be classed as ‘serious’ art if it has this air of high monetary and philosophical value, which I think is sad.
Hi Paul, lovely to hear from you, absolutely spot on! I totally agree. There needs to be more artist led spaces that don’t have the agenda of the funders at the heart of the organisations. But the cost to rent, heat etc are always ridiculous high. It can be so demeaning for the council to say have a window in a shopping centre? what does that say about the council, government’s understanding of art!
Coming back to the size of the canvases you mentioned this reminds me of when I was doing my photography degree between 2001 and 2003, it was just as digital photography was breaking through. These vast printers would print massive photographs that were affordable with little work too. I’d spend hours in the darkrooms and I remember the students who were using the digital printers you wouldn’t see until crit days and they’d turn up with these huge prints, which did make an impact, whether us darkroom photographers liked it or not.