Commodification and Contemporary Art

"When a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers buy on price alone, it becomes a commodity."
-​"Investopedia", Forbes, quoted in Thomas Crow, "Historical Returns", Artforum, April 2008

"We have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth."
- Tony Judt, "Ill Fares the Land", New York Review of Books, April 29, 2010

"The greatest consequence of the commoditization of art is the loss of the integrity of the object because it is with the integrity of the object that all lasting value lies."
- Michael Findlay, "The value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty", Prestel, New York