The Super Market Culture

There has been a deluge of photographs on the auction market this spring. According to Amanda Doenitz, in the July/August issue of Art on Paper, they are comparable to the photograph on the left, "99 Cent," 1999, by Andreas Gursky. They are very low-quality, being sold to opportunistic shoppers who don't recognize or care for quality, but are willing to accept unquestionably the artifically inflated prices.

The majority of the collectors want to purchase an image they are familiar with. They would rather own a Dian Arbus photograph from an edition of 75 that was printed years after her death than a one-of-a-kind vintage print made by the photographer him/herself. Doenitz describes it as an "I can own a brand-new print of the picture I saw in my grandparents' Life Magazine" mentality.

Consider Gursky's "99 Cent" photograph, which ironically is part of the high-end market for photography. In 1997, it retailed for $28, 000. One print in the edition of six was held back from the market. It was recently sold on May 10, 2006 at a Southby's contemporary art auction for $2,256,000.

Would you rather own an Ansel Adams image printed by Alan Ross or John Sexton or an original by a lesser know photographer?