I have an interesting question and dA is definitely the best concentration of interested parties I could find.

What is the value of art?

I'm not talking about the philosophical ideas and the need for humanity to have it, or the therapeutic value of creating something. I mean, in determining your prices, what should factor in? As a suggestion, when pricing your piece of art, whatever it is, how do you determine the price? Is it a set hourly wage, plus materials, plus some kind of training received fee, or some combination therein? Or, down to the bare bones, is it simply what someone is willing to pay for it? Because I can look at a piece and go "I'd pay about $20-$30 for that" and discover it's almost $90!

As the consumer, I do have some say in what I'll pay for a piece. It's the simple say of "won't buy it", or that I'll haggle it down. And the piece never sells. You can always say "oh, someone will always buy it", but really? That's not true. Don't bring in the current economy as a major point of the discussion, because I was thinking about this years ago, way before it tanked. In simple capitalistic terms, the given value of any item is what consumers will pay for it, not the effort that went into it, the training the creator received, or the cost of materials. If you're smart, what consumers are willing to pay covers those things, but it doesn't always happen that way.

Thoughts?