$4 Million Photograph

What makes this photograph worth $4,338,500 (other than the obvious fact someone was prepared to pay that amount for it)?


expensive_photographs05.jpg
 
L

Lightmaster

Guest
i remember we had that discussion before.


as to what makes it worth it.

first gursky has a name in the art scene. second it´s about speculation with art.

i can paint pollock images all day and never get a cent for it.
actually that´s not true as i have sold such abstract stuff on microstock agencys. :)

maybe some billionair collector really likes it. ;)
and it´s a BIG image.

cindy shermans picture sucks too .... and is small in comparisation. ;D
 
Upvote 0
AS he himself says it. Its art becasue you wouldnt think its art. The picture has a lot in comming with Warhols works, or Duchamps. The piece is lifted out of its plain and boring state into a piece of something meaningful. You have dozens of scenes you walk by without thinking about them becasue the moment you look at it last so short that you dont even realize the importance of the scene, but by taking a photograph of it you make that moment special. You can observe it in all its proportions and layers, in all its details. That is what makes Gurskys work so great. Its so ordinary that its insanely special again.
 
Upvote 0

Don Haines

Beware of cats with laser eyes!
Jun 4, 2012
8,246
1,939
Canada
Jeffbridge said:
What makes this photograph worth $4,338,500 (other than the obvious fact someone was prepared to pay that amount for it)?


expensive_photographs05.jpg
It's not the photograph, but the photoshop skills required to remove a few structures from the scene that makes it so valuable...

Now, who wants to offer me $5,000,000 for this incredibly rare picture of Neil Armstrong's cat which travelled with him to the moon......
 

Attachments

  • lucky.jpg
    lucky.jpg
    54.6 KB · Views: 6,758
Upvote 0
Nov 17, 2011
5,514
15
Don Haines said:
Jeffbridge said:
What makes this photograph worth $4,338,500 (other than the obvious fact someone was prepared to pay that amount for it)?


expensive_photographs05.jpg
It's not the photograph, but the photoshop skills required to remove a few structures from the scene that makes it so valuable...

Now, who wants to offer me $5,000,000 for this incredibly rare picture of Neil Armstrong's cat which travelled with him to the moon......

Don,
I'll place my bid - $5,000,001 ;)
 
Upvote 0
Don Haines said:
Jeffbridge said:
What makes this photograph worth $4,338,500 (other than the obvious fact someone was prepared to pay that amount for it)?
expensive_photographs05.jpg
It's not the photograph, but the photoshop skills required to remove a few structures from the scene that makes it so valuable...
Now, who wants to offer me $5,000,000 for this incredibly rare picture of Neil Armstrong's cat which travelled with him to the moon......
index.php
Hey Don, I prefer the picture of the cat on the moon. But I have not much money to buy it. However, as you are not yet a famous "artist", can give me a nice discount, and sell to me for only $ 1,000,000? Seriously, The photo of auction is one of the most "boring" that I've ever seen. These auctions of "art" are a good way to make money laundering and other tax crimes. I want to see if the buyer will be able to sell that boring photo for more than U.S. $ 4,000,000 sometime in the future. I like being called a PHOTOGRAPHER, and when someone calls me ARTIST, I think he's cursing me.
 
Upvote 0
I had the same feeling a few years ago when I saw it. Apparently it's printed very large and laminated under plexiglass at least ;D

And, I had the same feeling when I saw this article on Luminous Landscape:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/kitchen_stories.shtml

Looking at the photos (ONLY), and not the woman or the context, my reaction is - are you serious??? That's Art???

Then I realized (yet again) that I am a photographer, NOT an artist. I shoot for the love of photography, and consider 90% or more of the "art" photography I've seen to be cliched crap. B&W, torn edges, crap out of focus, cheesy InstaPhotoShop filters - yep, that's "art" in today's world. Quality photos of unique subjects in beautiful light - nobody wants that.

***Stepping down from the bitter soap box :)***
 
Upvote 0
Some years ago I (do not know why) I took a course named: Research-creative-in-art-technology. The teacher was graduated in fine arts, and had good skills in painting, drawing and art history, but knew nothing of photography or video (art technology?).

She is a fan of Duchamp, which I hate, and in a lesson I said that in my opinion: "Conceptual art is the refuge of the incompetent". She did not like what I said, but survived.

I learned about art history and joked acrylic painting and drawing. At the end of the course, I was photographing the work of colleagues in the exhibition, and the teacher asked my camera (Canon SLR + color negative film + Sigma 24-70mm). Then she asked me: "Where is the zoom?" I looked at her amazed and showed the rubber ring on the lens.

Some years later, my art teacher was arrested for murdering his sister stabbed in the back. I was playing with fire and did not know. Today I say: "Conceptual art is the refuge of the incompetent and crazy". :eek:
 
Upvote 0
.
I don't know Gursky or anything about him (or her). (Oh, I don't know anything about "art" either.) But I'd bet my first coffee of the day that he has an MFA.

From all I've seen, if you have a camera and the MFA degree, you're an artist. If you only have the camera, you're just a photographer. Actual outcomes seem irrelevant.
 
Upvote 0
Upvote 0
starflux said:
j0hannes said:
I hope the picture you posted is not the original Gursky, because a huge portion of the lower right corner is very obviously clone-stamped.
Oh it is def. a bad photoshop job... see it in the original image... check out the large version at this link and you can easily see the same grass pattern repeated in lower right corner...

http://c4gallery.com/artist/database/andreas-gursky/andreas-gursky-the-rhein-II.jpg
...and yet he left some orange piece of garbage near the water and a set of stairs(?) on the opposite bank in the photo.
 
Upvote 0
Conceptually it's kind of boring (though at least it has a concept), but the technique and composition are better than anything I've seen posted on this forum... by far. Gursky's other work is cold, but for what it is... excellent.

Price is insane, but diminishing returns when it comes to the best.

I don't see how outcome is irrelevant... Gursky (who's working on 8x10, btw, and whose skill as a photographer technically and artistically is incredible) does amazing work. Google image search his prints. They're cold, formal, technical, kind of banal in terms of subject, but for what they are they're beyond reproach. $4 million is ridiculous, though, but what isn't. Most expensive wine surely isn't worth it either.

Cloning out some stuff and not other stuff isn't about cleaning up the image, it's about the composition as a whole. I feel like people here are so caught up on technique (ironic since few of your can shoot 8x10) they ignore the concept and execution of an excellent photograph. This isn't my favorite Gursky and his style isn't my favorite style (again, it's cold) but the guy is a freaking master.
 
Upvote 0