Scourge of law schools David Segal has a great article on Peter Lik, the best selling photographer in the world.  Lik is pretty impressed with his life, and has become very, very rich, so perhaps he should be.  However, the photos he sells aren't exactly full of resale value.  Instead, they're way more likely to cost more only if you buy them from Peter Lik, who makes a limited number of copies, and increases the price after he sells each one.

Currently, there are more than 770 Liks for sale on ArtBrokerage.com, the most of any artist on the site. As of Friday, that included 27 copies of one image, “Tree of Hope,” with prices that ranged from $5,000 to $29,000.

Or you can buy a copy at the gallery, where it has achieved Second Level Peter Lik Premium status, for $35,000.

Is this okay?  It's not like you should be able to sue any artist who sells you art that doesn't gain in value; as a first approximation, 100% of all artists make art that doesn't gain in value.  And it's not like Lik's in house gallerists have a special duty of care towards potential purchasers.  And common law fraud is a last resort kind of claim, it seems to me.  But boy, the way the those photos are sold...the article is full of dodgy representations by seemingly well-coached, and honest sounding salespeople.  This might be the kind of profile that establishes that yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity.

Economics | Bookmark

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8345157d569e201bb07f61737970d

Links to weblogs that reference There's No Accounting For Taste Or Common Law Fraud?: