Stephanie Trow

As I have always said, I am no expert when it comes to art. There are undoubtely thousands of people in Minneapolis that are more trained and skilled than I am when it comes to drawing and painting. However, I do know within a split-second of looking at a piece of artwork whether a retailer is ripping off consumers for an outragous price. Basically, if I could replicate a drawing or painting within 20 minutes and it costs much more than $50, it’s not worth the price.

While I love the store that found this pen and ink painting at, it is completely outragous that they are trying to charge people $300 for it…and that is at the discounted price.

Painting that was originally priced $498.00 by a high-end retailer

I understand that most people are not as frugal as I am when it comes to art. Maybe it is the artist hidden within me, but the first thing that I do when I look at artwork is try to figure out the technique the artist used and determine whether I could replicate it, if I tried. I know that the majority of people don’t have a background in art and can’t just replicate paintings like this or pay a friend like me a fraction of the price to. But, consumer to consumer, I don’t think it is fair that people are getting ripped off like this.

Don’t be fooled by words like “minimalist,” or “reproduced from a 19th century sketchbook.” This is an incredibly simple sketch of a flower using one medium and one color, and it probably took the artist less than 15 minutes to actually paint. Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge appreciation for minimalist art, I think simplicity is beautiful, but I don’t think it’s worth that kind of money.

Personally, I am a huge believer in buying student artwork. If you are looking to buy art that is unique, going to sales featuring local student artwork is a great place to look, and your money will either support the students or the fine art schools. Why wouldn’t you want something from an up-in-coming artist, before they potentially make it big, hanging in your living room? Trust me, it would be more likely to impress your friends than the painting shown above, and you wouldn’t have to break the bank decorating. MCAD, for example, has an art sale every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving. The sale has a lot of affordable art, most of which is under $100. I have yet to attend, but have heard great things and definitely plan to go to this year.