THREAD: Why is @iArtSometimes' accidental hole in the wall being bid around 5,000 dollars? Feels like an esoteric question, but it's mostly not.

Let's look at why an accidental hole in the wall can fetch such a price.

First, let's look at ubiquity https://superrare.co/artwork-v2/idiot-17619

Sean's original tweet has over 4,000 likes and has likely garnered a million or more impressions. Before we even talk about the context of the piece it's important to realize this.

Ubiquity impacts art value tremendously. More famous = more valuable. https://twitter.com/iArtSometimes/status/1342498945080176643?s=20

That's much of the reason why the Mona Lisa is a priceless artifact. Because it's a universally recognizable art object.

This leads to another question. What does art do? What is it all about?

The best definition I can give someone is that it captures feelings and experiences.

Art can take many forms. It can be functional in the context of architecture, purely aesthetic in the sense of sculpture/paint on canvas, or somewhere in between.

But what do all forms of art have in common? They all convey something. They all give you a 'sense of experience'.

Let's look at Frank Lloyd Wright's famous 'Fallingwater'.

This building gives you a sense of being part of nature, being part of the flowing water.

Just like Dali gives you a sense of being in a dream, or Michelangelo gives a sense of being in heaven.

It's this ability to impart a sense of experiences, memories, cultures, and ideas that makes art distinct.

The relatability of these packaged senses is what gives art value.

So back to the subject at hand. What senses does this hole in the wall with a frame impart on us?

For me, it's infinitely relatable.

It's human in that it shows a moment of error, captured forever. I don't know about you but I've put a few holes in walls and there's something quite timeless about that image.

Holes in walls tell stories. And art is about stories.

The creativity to throw a frame around said hole and put it on social media took the experience to new heights. It became 'packaged' and that packaged experience got shipped on the information superhighway we call the internet.

All this on Christmas morning no less.

So we have a combination of:

- time
- place
- relatable meme
- respected artist
- ability to distribute that meme

These things together create a packaged moment. A sense of what it would be like to kick a hole in your own wall on Christmas.

Visually turning lemons to lemonade.

Hope you enjoyed this thread. Art is wacky, but when you break down what it is you see why it has value. It's not just about time put in, or being visually stunning.

It's about conveying meaning. And that can be done in a billion different ways, each way stranger than the last.