The Price of Everything

"The Price of Everything" (2018 release; 100 min.) is a documentary about the world of contemporary art. As the movie opens, we watch a Sotheby's auction unfolding. "It's important for good art to be expensive", observes an art dealer, as we see the prices at that auction reaching ludicrous highs. The documentary focuses on two artists with similar last names (Jeff Koons, and Larry Poons), and who couldn't me more different in their approach and creation of contemporary arts. Koons is like the CEO of a mega-company, with many underlings cranking out new works (and these works are snapped up by eager collectors), whereas Poons has left the "corporate track" decades ago and now works with his wife in a remote location and at his leisure (but no less passionate about art).... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from documentarian Nathaniel Kahn, whose previous films include the excellent "My Architecture". Here he takes a look at the contemporary arts scene: what constitutes art, do art collector collect as an investment or for the love of art, why at times it feels more like a stock market than a museum, how new art is created, etc. Many 'talking heads' pass the review. I have to admit that I am not at all a connoisseur of contemporary art. Who am I to object against someone paying an outrageous amount of money for a piece of art? It reminds me of the seemingly limitless amount of money thrown at free agents in sports: are they worth it? Well, someone thinks so, so yes, they are. Kahn collects many great quotes from his talking heads: "Auction is a trading house for assets", and "To be a collector you have to be shallow", and "In the art world, there are many followers and few leaders", and "A lot of people know the price of everything and the value of nothing", and that's just a handful of them. In the end this is an enjoyable film, but there is nothing "revolutionary" in here as such.

This documentary premiered at this year's Sundance film festival to good acclaim. HBO snapped it up and I saw it recently on HBO On Demand. If you have an avid interest in art, and even more so if your interest is in contemporary art, I'd readily suggest you check it out and draw your own conclusion.

All I can say is that there are some truly insipid and awful people featured in this film.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the people who occupy the world of contemporary art pull no punches in this very well researched and produced documentary.

Enlightening. Maddening. Comforting. Inspiring. There's something for everyone in this doc. It's truly an insider's look into contemporary art and richly illustrates how it's produced, marketed and offered for sale at auction.

The stars are the "biggies" of the art world: Curators, collectors, critics and, of course, the artists themselves. Opinions are spread over the entire spectrum and as a documentary, the makers of this film are most democratic. No points of view are favored over others.

I was very impressed by the production values, the editing, private access, candid interviews and well....the artworks shown.

I will certainly be watching it more than once. Rated: 10 Stars as it's, as they say, "The Real Deal".

It's important to be able to separate the documentary quality from the subject itself. Whilst most of us will be fascinated with the world these people live in, that should have no bearing on whether the documentary is good, bad or indifferent.

The film itself is high quality in terms of production, access to artists, retailers and buyers. It's interesting to see the varying viewpoints from each. But, for me, there needed to be some more critical questioning of each source. Without this there's a very fine line between deterimining whether you're watching a bonafide documentary or a subtle mocumentary. I would like to have seen interviewees being challenged more - from the over-zealous critics reading too much into the classic artists' works to the artists producing what many would consider to be the works of the untalented who have jumped on the bandwagon to con the gullible.

The film is a very easy watch and I think most of us will be left shaking our heads at the shallowness of the art world. The term "The emperor's new clothes" springs to mind and you're just wanting the producers to be that little boy at the side of the road who shouts out that the emperor is naked. I know I was shouting it lots!

A world that we seldom get to see inside. The lowly artist toiling away to get their visions out, the dealers poring over hardback catalogs, the galleries and of course the eccentric and super rich collectors.

All fairly interesting if you are, as i am, an enjoyer of art.