Why is Peter Lik's work so valuable?

jwbryson1 · Mar 14, 2013

He sells millions every year and makes a lot of $$$. It's great stuff, yes, but one of his biggest selling images is the shot of the dock leading out into the blue water. Captivating? Yes. Beautiful? Surely. Been done a millions times before and since? No doubt. So, why is his worth $750 per print and Joe Photographer's print is worth $7.50 per print?

Is it all in the name?

amolitor · Mar 14, 2013

Art, for the most part, has value because it is expensive and is expensive because it is valuable.

People want to spend money on it. From millions of dollars for a super high end piece to a couple hundred for a minor "name" artist's piece, there are markets for every price point.

The trouble with art is that there's so much of it. It's being made by millions of people, constantly. And, it's not all bad. And what IS good or bad, anyways? The result is that you wind up with artificially created markets defined by designated tastemakers. So and so decrees that that guy's sculpture of welded together car parts is worth $1.5M. This magazine decrees that this other guy's photos are worth $750. Once the price is set, the artist's name is dumped into a price-point bucket, and people buy the work based on the fact that the artist has sold other work at or around that price point.

It's not *completely* arbitrary, mostly the expensive stuff has some merit of some sort. It might not be to my taste or yours, but someone probably genuinely thinks it's good work. Still, there's lots of good work out there, and not all of it is salable at all.

How do you get to be a tastemaker, one of the gatekeepers of the community? Well, that's complicated.

How do you get the ATTENTION of a tastemaker? You sleep with them, you hang around with them, you're related to them, or you're just plain lucky.

So yeah, in a sense it's all in the name. Some names are picked out of the hat to be lucky winners, and most names are not.

Designer · Mar 14, 2013

He is just THAT GOOD!

Designer · Mar 14, 2013

amolitor said:
Some names are picked out of the hat to be lucky winners, and most names are not.

Yea, he's "lucky" and the harder he works, the luckier he gets.

amolitor · Mar 14, 2013

Sure, you gotta work at it, and you gotta have some sort of talent.

The point is that hard work and talent are not a path to success. They are (kind of, mostly) prerequisites, but they're not indicators. Work hard, be diligent. Develop a vision fully, express yourself powerfully in your chosen medium. And then go start sleeping with curators.

Not that you have to sleep with curators to sell prints at $750, we're not in High End Art land here. Maybe sleep with a magazine editor, though!

sm4him · Mar 14, 2013

I do think some of it (perhaps quite a lot of it) is serendipity--being in the right place at the right time with the right photo, grabbing the attention of that person in the art world who has the ability to get your name and your art into the right circles and make things happen. Having the right connections really is critical--whether you are related to people in the art community (makes note to self to start being even more wonderful and sweet to my DC Art Museum-employee/UGA Art School board-member sister-in-law...), or whether you MAKE the right connections, it's critical to have them if you're ever going to make the really big break to THAT kind of money for your work.

But something else also strikes me when I google his name and look at the resulting images--they are ALL stunningly gorgeous. There are no "meh, whatever" quality pictures there. Joe Blow *might* be able to take a similar "dock leading out into blue water" kinda shot, but then you look at Joe Blow's body of work and you see some good, some bad and a lot of mediocre.
I'm not saying that Peter Lik has never taken a mediocre picture--I'm just saying what he chooses to put out there is STELLAR.

Ilovemycam · Mar 14, 2013

jwbryson1 said:
He sells millions every year and makes a lot of $$$. It's great stuff, yes, but one of his biggest selling images is the shot of the dock leading out into the blue water. Captivating? Yes. Beautiful? Surely. Been done a millions times before and since? No doubt. So, why is his worth $750 per print and Joe Photographer's print is worth $7.50 per print?

Is it all in the name?

Yes, name is it.

Look at Cindy Sherman...millions per print.

Designer · Mar 14, 2013

amolitor said:
Maybe sleep with a magazine editor, though!

You're right about that! I once worked for a man who had developed a relationship (not THAT way) with the editor of a national magazine. He got special projects handed to him, and had his stuff featured in the magazine in spite of the fact that the designs were not very good.

ann · Mar 14, 2013

He makes eye candy, at least for me, and I wouldn't buy for $7.50. However, it is clear I am in the minority

CCericola · Mar 14, 2013

The same reason David Choe makes thousands. Rich people love paying for stuff regular people can't buy. It only takes 1 large sale to get a reputation.

runnah · Mar 14, 2013

I sell each of my prints upwards of $1200 a piece. They are so exclusive no one has bought one yet.

Steve5D · Mar 14, 2013

My brother used to lament the fact that he could never sell prints. He had some space in a gallery, but nothing was moving. There were plenty of people who looked but, in the end, they were just tire kickers.

I suggested he raise his prices by 20%. He thought I was crazy, but he also figured he had nothing to lose, since nothing was selling anyway. The gallery owner was indifferent.

He had 12 prints in the gallery for three months, without making a single sale. He raised his prices and, in two months time, had sold all 12 prints.

Sometimes pricing something too low can be worse than pricing it too high...

runnah · Mar 14, 2013

Steve5D said:
Sometimes pricing something too low can be worse than pricing it too high...

Good point...raised to $1500! Oh you have to provide your own frame, and pick it up at the walmart photo center.

jwbryson1 · Mar 15, 2013

runnah said:
I sell each of my prints upwards of $1200 a piece. They are so exclusive no one has bought one yet.

:smileys:

jwbryson1 · Mar 15, 2013

Steve5D said:
Sometimes pricing something too low can be worse than pricing it too high...

On that note, I have a gently used Nikon D40, 18-55mm kit lens, extra battery, 2G SB card. 35,000 actuations. I hate to sell it, but I will take the first $7,500 through the door. Hit me up with a PM if you're interested.

Thanks!