06/09/2001
by Celso Fioravante

Does a record obtained at auction help or hinder the career of an artist? What are the factors that determine the price of a work of art? The Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, whose photographs have increased by 300% in six years, answers all.

Celso Fioravante: At the beginning of your career would you have ever thought that works such as the photographs of objects made from copper wire would have increased by 300% in six years, going from $ 1,500 to 6,000 (€ 1,679 to 6,716)?
Vik Muniz: When an artist works on a piece, the notion of the value of what he is creating is very abstract. In actual fact, his only aim is to have sufficient means to produce other works. I would never have imagined that one of my works of art could have been sold at a higher price than that initially agreed with the gallerist.

C.F.: How does an artist know if this valuation is fair?
V.M.: When an artist decides to sell a work, it is better that he does not think too much about what would be the fairest valuation. Anything can happen on the market. For example, if one follows the auctions comparing the prices reached by one’s own works in the sales with the estimates one would risk going crazy.

C.F.: Does a record obtained at auction help or hinder the career of an artist?
V.M.: I believe that it helps the artist, because it is a sign that his work has found a market and has a higher value than that attributed by the gallery. But it may also be an obstacle if it drives the owners of his works to sell them and to speculate on the prices. This has not happened to me. The number of my works of art that has been auctioned is still very low.

C.F.: How do you decide the price of your works?
V.M.: I follow an uncommon strategy. I refuse to increase the prices, even if I do not have many works to sell. It would be easy to increase the cost, but it would mean appealing to a restricted circle of collectors, while I prefer to have my works in the homes of various people and in places of work. I like to imagine that many people spend the day surrounded by my works: if I increased the prices few people would still be able to do so. Only recently I have started to have requests from museums as well and I have started to think about larger installations. In any case, when I value my work I try to be objective: I would not buy one of my works of art if it cost more than what I believe I should spend on it.

C.F.: Which are the factors that determine the price of a work of art?
V.M.: The price of a work of art is generally determined by the demand on the market and by the production cost: the less time I have available to produce a work, the higher the cost because I also need more people to help me to make it.

C.F.: When you began your career as an artist, in 1984, did you have a strategy regarding how you would place yourself on the market?
V.M.: I was very naive at the beginning of my career. I could not understand how somebody could have spent money to acquire something I had made. And when I received the money for my first work of art, which sold for $ 400 (€ 440), the satisfaction was so great that I could not believe that it could happen again. Instead, it has been happening for the last 14 years. When I sell a work of art I think about my new works but I never think about the amount I could sell them for. I am a terrible calculator, but I believe that there should not be a precise market strategy: this is why it has always been successful.

C.F.: Was moving to New York not part of a market strategy?
V.M.: I would not say so. When I moved to New York from Brazil I did not even think about working in the art world, but in theatre. I have always had great problems with the concept of value. Other artists complain when they do not sell a lot, while I think that I have the best job in the world because it allows me to travel and to enjoy myself a lot.