The Global Market & Art

Recently I was reading an essay titled, Capitalism and Art , and it really caused me to consider the interrelationship between economics and art. Perhaps more specifiically, the way in which art is controlled by the economy. Sadly, as the essay explains, capitialists tell us that we live in a global market and the market exists to make money. This made me consider that artists are actually, in a sense, oppressed by capitalism because their work, as art, is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is whether it sells. In effect, anything that sells gets labeled as art. This lead me to consider the possibility that many of the works that we consider to be art are indeed little more than pieces that sell. Perhaps this also holds true in relation to authors whose work sells. It isn't necessarily that they are extrodinary literary scholars, rather, they are people who kno w precisely how to create that which will sell on the market. This my friends, is rather tragic.