Will Gompertz > Quotes > Quote > Janene liked it

“Yes, to a certain extent, it is. Original thought in art is important. There’s no intellectual value in plagiarism. But there is in authenticity. Modern art is about innovation and imagination, not the status quo, or worse: pale imitation. And then there’s the financial value we place on rarity in our capitalist society, where the laws of supply and demand rule. Put all three together—originality, authenticity, rarity—and you have the reason why a Malevich Black Square is worth a million dollars and a version by you or me is not.”
― Will Gompertz, What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art