Capitalism & Art

This project highlights the love-hate relationship between capitalism and the art industry. Three artists are used to explain this relationship; they all hold a specific relationship with capitalism where; Andrea Fraser works to break the barriers between consumerism, commodification, and capitalism by means of highlighting prostitution and creating an artwork of a sex tape in an attempt to critique the system. Warhol and Koons, on the other hand, embrace the system as they both acknowledged that it is inevitable. However, while they embrace it, they still attempt to break the barriers themselves between use-value, exchange-value, and commodification by appropriating either ready-made objects or iconic objects, such as commodifying a balloon dog into a porcelain object or printing and warping a Campbell's soup can into an iconic artwork. These artists are related to numerous authors which highlight these relationships; the authors cited include Karl Marx, Pierre Bourdieu, and Walter Benjamin who bring forth important ideas such as numerous forms of exploitation, commodity fetishism, and appropriation.