Having seen Netflix's Velvet Buzzsaw, I was a little bit intrigued as to how their portrayal of the art community would compare to the real thing in this documentary. The Price of Everything takes the viewer on a journey to look at the connection between art and the money; price vs value.
The documentary follows a number of different key positions in the contemporary art community, conducting interviews with gallery owners, auctioneers, museum curators, collectors, artists, dealers, historians, critics, and investors, each taking us through part of their processes. As such, this is not so much a cohesive story as a collection of short stories that take place in the same place. It is a variety of perspectives on the history of contemporary art, or more accurately the commodification of art.
A rather dry documentary, this peek into an industry that turns raw materials of negligible value into million dollar prizes at the auction houses, is curious if not flabbergasting. The fact that you can have some of the most elite artists can have an entire production area with hundreds of workers painting on their behalf, yet they may not have physically touched the pieces of art themselves is absolutely preposterous. Yet it happens frequently in the scene.
What still remains unknown, is who truly decides what is of value. The notion is put forward that the only way to have culturally relevant art is to assign it a value, yet this would mean bring into question who is assigning cultural relevance to modern art. Why is a painting of a skull worth more if it points a certain way? The subjective evaluation of art is dazzling and disconcerting at the same time, such as the belief that art depreciates in value depending on where it is kept, a lobby being a fate worse than being put in permanent storage.
If the art world truly intrigues you, then The Price of Everything will be enlightening and a motivating tool in itself. If the art galleries are not on your typical list of fun activities, then this is not for you. The 105-minute documentary will either fly by in a flash, or time will drag as you wonder where the stories are going.
Much like the value of the art it depicts, The Price of Everything is subjective. A dry set of intermingled conversations about a topic these people are undoubtedly passionate about, yet most are unable to successfully communicate why. The artists themselves provide the backbone of this piece, with the most engagement when we see them talk about their art. Fascinating but directionless.