Open Thread
Need a Hand?
Your Next Project Starts with BrownstonerMost Recent Articles
Need a Hand?
Your Next Project Starts with Brownstoner
“OK JB, but have you gone to the louvre and thought you were looking at the mona lisa and thought you were looking at the original when in fact you were just looking at a copy (chances are 2 out of 3, as kens has informed us)?â€
Well, I remember how I felt when I saw the mona lisa at the louvre – I was pretty excited! There it is – there’s the painting the world makes so much fuss about – the one painted by the master. Had I learned later that day that I saw the fake, well, I’d be bummed. Why come all the way there when you can see copies of the work anywhere.
But, if you never told me I saw the fake, I’d be fine to never know the truth. Unless everyone else knew the truth and laughed at me or felt sorry for me. Then I’d want to know.
I’m agnostic. Is that consistent?
“A company that sells ice cream for $1 might well be able to make a greater profit than a company that sells for $7, albeit at a much smaller margin of profit.”
but the company A who sells ice cream at $1 is an area where only ice cream B,C,D is sold and averages 8 dollars – company A can raise it’s price as it is the cheapest (and only) replacement for premium ice cream B,C,D.
this happens alot in brooklyn, as there are alot of mom and pop stores who can carry only expensive premium items and mark up the cheap stuff to a level where it’s overpriced but not overpriced enough to make you not want to buy it. Would you walk an extra 5 blocks to save 2 bucks on a pint of ice cream?
that is the original argument – they are not separate markets.
funny how all you baller wanna be warren buffets don’t know how this shit works.
There is no difference between believing an artwork is an original and believing in God. Whether or not it is actually an original isn’t the point. It’s all about believing it is.
OK bxgrl, again, if it is a perfect copy and you don’t know it, aren’t you getting the exact same experience? You have no idea if it’s really an original, just the BELIEF that it is an original gets you what you want.
“So I went up and pointedly told them in Japanese that that behavior was prohibited and unacceptable and damaged the art.”
lol donatella,
that entire scene you described would get a million hits on youtube.
But what if you don’t know that what you are looking at is actually a copy, bxgrl? I think that’s the point.
Donatella, when I was there (2003) they were really on top of people taking pictures. Not one person took out their camera. There were loads of security in that room and large “no camera” signs.
randolph, do you like gladiator movies?
jb- I completely agree. It’s that ineffable something that no copy can reproduce.Seeing the Pieta, knowing Michelangelo carved it, and touched it, and that it has over 500 years of history attached to it, is awe-inspiring. Whereas all you get from a copy- even a great copy, is admiration for the skill or technology that enabled a work to be copied. Like looking at a real Bengal tiger and looking at a picture of a real Bengal tiger.