THE MOST EXPENSIVE PHOTO

If I knew what art is, I would keep it to myself.

[Pablo Picasso]

Those who are interessted in art photography may have seen it already:

Peter Lik Print Sells for $6.5 Million, Shattering Record for Most Expensive Photo

Australian landscape photographer Peter Lik has taken the crown for most expensive photo ever sold. “Phantom,” the picture shown above, was sold to a private collector for a staggering $6.5 million. The record was previously held by Andreas Gursky’s “Rhein II”, which sold for $4.3 million back in 2011.[http://petapixel.com]

"Phantom"                  Photo: Peter Lik www.lik.com

I will not comment on the photograph now - any definition of "art" is anyway a subjective one. Perhaps only this: I personally prefer it definitely to Gursky's picture...

For me the really interesting about this story are the discussions, which can be found on various art criticism pages and Photography Blogs on the Internet ...

Let‘s start with the official announcing from Peter Lik‘s website:

“Phantom” Sells for an Astounding $6.5 Million 

Peter Lik has officially made art history by selling the most expensive photograph ever – setting a world record. An official press release was issued today, outlining details on the $6.5 million sale of masterwork, “Phantom.”

  One of Peter’s all-time, favorite places to shoot lies in the Southwestern region of the United States, where he is continually drawn to Arizona’s Antelope Canyon – a slot canyon carved out by natural flowing water over the course of millions of years. It is here, in a subterranean cavern, that Peter captured “Phantom” – a stunning, black & white depiction of a ghostlike figure.

  The private collector, who purchased the $6.5 million “Phantom” in November 2014, also acquired Lik’s masterworks “Illusion” for $2.4 million and “Eternal Moods” for $1.1 million. With this incredible $10 million sale, Lik now holds four of the top 20 spots for most expensive photographs ever sold. He already has a position in the ranking with a previous $1 million sale of famed image, “One.”

  For over 30 years, Peter has followed a calling to capture and share the most beautiful places on earth. A myriad of awards and accolades mark the career of a dedicated and talented artist – a man who came from humble beginnings in his native Australia. This historic moment only further proves that Peter Lik is undoubtedly a true leader in the world of fine art.

"This historic moment only further proves that Peter Lik is undoubtedly a true leader in the world of fine art."  Well, that's a powerful statement, isn‘t it? But many others don‘t see it this way: 

The Most Expensive Photo in the World, or the Best Marketing Stunt?

As with his 2010 piece, One, the purported sale was to a private collector, and therefore there was no way to verify the claim. Rumors have swirled for years that Lik’s investors “buy” his works at absurd prices as a marketing stunt to generate interest in his work. Lik has multiple galleries in the US and in his home country of Australia, and aggressive sales tactics are a hallmark of the galleries’ style. [petapixel.com]

Let's set aside the discussion what's art and what's not. Let's see how the price of a work of art is "made":

Sara Friedlander, Vice President, Head of Evening Sales at Christie’s explained that the price of a photo in the art world is based on an amalgamation of uniqueness, provenance and scale. [petapixel.com]

Side note: Really? Size matters? And what about technique? (you know, there is a x-rated joke about size and technique ;-))

A somewhat different, less commercial access has Jörg Heiser, editor of the art magazine „Freeze“:

1. Reflects the artwork its time?2. Is the artist  tusing he material skilfully, intelligent and/or in a imaginative way?3. If the resulting artwork original, funny or witty?4. Is the artwork touching or surprising me, do I learn something new? 

As I said earlier, I do not want to evaluate Lik's picture. This is done by others. Like Jonathan Jones, the art critic of the British newspaper The Guardian. And there it will be really funny:

Peter Lik’s hollow, cliched and tasteless black and white shot of an Arizona canyon isn’t art – and proves that photography never will be. [theguardian.com]

The same critic has written about a year ago the following:

Photography is the serious art of our time. It also happens to be the most accessible and democratic way of making art that has ever been invented. 
But the photography that meets the critieria of the art world is just a tiny sliver of the camera's artistic riches. From news images to the Hubble telescope, Photography is the art of real life – however manipulated. And real life creates true art. [theguardian.com]

So can we take such rankings like "The most expensive photograph ever" seriously? And can we take art critic seriously (aside from that that they can "make" an "Artist" or can prevent an artist's career)? IMHO: No.

Finally, the definition of an art critic I've found somewhere on the web (sorry, don‘t know where anymore):

An art critic is nothing more than a conscientious objector who goes down into the battlefield long after the war has been waged and pokes the wounded.

Exactly to the point.

 Update 14/12/2014

The story is - not unexpectedly - causing quite a stir (at least in the world of photographers;-)). 

First of all, the response from Sean O'Hagan, another art critic of The Guardian:

Photography is art and always will be

Especially Lik‘s  self-appointed titel of a "true leader in the world of fine art" is challenged more then once:

As 'fine art' Lik’s work has been ignored by major art galleries and dismissed by critics - when his photos have gone up for public auction, they have not sold well. Lik’s photographs have no secondary market or value.This makes the '$6.5m canyon: the most expensive photograph ever' claim all the more questionable - that's the story - it has nothing to do with art but everything to do with the truth and marketing.

One can find a lot of stories about Lik (eg here and here).  Taken aside the quality of his photographs he seems to be first and foremost a "true leader in self marketing"...

SLOW DOWN

The real voyage of discovery consist not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. 

(Marcel Proust)

Our today's society can‘t do anything with the little ones, with tranquility and spirituality. Everything is huge, flashy, pushy. Perfection and flawless behavior are expected in all areas.

Our aesthetic ideas are reflecting this world: smooth, flawless, characterless. White porcelain, concrete, metal, edges, corners, straight lines, disclaiming everything soft, natural and rounded. Instead of sensuality there is sterile beauty. The aesthetics of the industrialial, the machine-crafted, the useful is prevailing -  an aesthetic of chilliness.

This idea of perfection don't let us find our innere peace. Have we reached a level of perfection, then we need to strive for even greater perfection. But we will never achieve this impossible goal - and we are blaming ourselves.

It is incredibly difficult to break free of this quest for perfection. We require error-free photograph. But "error-free" does not exist. Where is the soul, the feeling? With all our measuring, thinking, pondering we kill our creative side. Photos are reduced to products. Photography is suddenly no longer a image of our soul. As we are focusing exclusively on the technical aspects it in fact gets meaningless and unimportant. The majority does not want any soul but photos that look as if they were made by machines. Custom-made commodity.

We need an aesthetic concept where the given is accepted, a concept that works with nature, a concept of artistic interpretation of what is given and of the humble. An emotional art in which the artistic intention has priority and includes the "error" as part of the aesthetic whole with. A photograph, which goes beyond the golden ratio and the perfect aperture, where not the non-sterile perfection but the transient, the incorrect counts. We need to have room again for the small, ugly, unheeded. For simplicity. For the broken, holey, rusty. Photography as a reduction, as an admiration for the small, hidden things of life.

We must (re) learn to appreciate the moment in all its facets. We need to (re) learn to look at the little things in life, realize that it does not make us happier chasing after money, to have the latest camera, a big car. We need to (re) learn to accept what happened and to enjoy it, so "imperfect" the moment may be. We need to (re) find a photograph that gives us the freedom to photograph what we want most, what is important for without being forced in the corset of photographic rules and conventions, without squinting out what "the market" requires or what is "mainstream" or "contemporary" at the moment.

We need a photograph that lives by humility. Not spectacular sunsets, grossly enlarged (but meaningless) images or artfully arranged beauties, but reduction to the essentials, the play of light and shadow, to structures, on the capture of changes and the ephemeral. A quiet, slow photography.

We must (re) learn to allow "errors". Iris reflections, burned, boozed shadows. If the image is corresponding with our sense at the end, if it reveales its soul, we should accept "failure" as a part of the picture, even use them deliberately. Nothing is perfect - especially in photography.

We must (re) learn to give more room to feelings in our photography. More important than all considerations are intuition, the meditative sinking and the experience of the moment. We need to make images that are not staged and "conjures up" by technology. We need to (re) learn not to take pictures with the head but from the gut. More important than the concrete is an image that appeals to the subconscious. The pursuit of greater technical perfection leads to nothing, is killing the imagination and freezes us.

KUNST 2014 Berlin

From February 15 - 19, I will participate at the International Collective Exhibition of Contemporary Art "KUNST 2014" in Berlin at the FORUM FACTORY and will present there parts of my portfolio "Metropolitan_The Moscow Metro".

If you are from Berlin or will be there on Saturday, February 15, you are kindly invited to the privat view from 18:00 - 21:00 at the Forum Factory, Besselstraße 13, 10969 Berlin.

The exhibition is open from February 15-19, 2014, from 14:00-20:00.