Yeah, do that increasing for all that you value..
I know a few things about the increasing cost of art supplies at least up until about 10 years ago.
To keep tubes of just primary and secondary colors of oil or acrylic paint on hand beside an easel ain't at all cheap unless you're a Picasso.
Not to mention needful colors like burnt umber and raw sienna.
A big tube of white paint is also essential for lightening any color or blend of colors.

I agree with Person 1, but I don't share the spirit I detect in her/his writing. I would recommend The Fountainhead to Person 1.
"Art defines culture" - Art influences culture. That's close enough for casual conversation..
"It's an investment in society as a whole." - Change it to "an investment in whoever appreciates it," and I agree.
" false promise of a market free to determine the value" - I agree. Markets are not the only measure of artistic value. Art can have a singular beauty to individuals. There may be no market of buyers/sellers who seek/produce that exact form of beauty.
"Money is not everything." - This is obviously true and needs no explanation.

If Person 1 makes these true statements and then says, "so therefore give artists a handout," that is a non sequitur that reject. The statements are true but not a reason for a handout.

can you give us a post, showing some of your work? :)

That's excellent. I think the difference is you have the ability to be creative and yet approach it as a business venture also. I hope it continues to go well.

A friend of mine is an artist. She works as a landscaper to make money while she tries to make her art a career. I have a lot of respect for her. She isn't expecting anything. Sounds like this guy on FB expects us to provide a living for him so he can just sit around and be creative.

I have been painting for 40 years . Just In the past 3 months I have sold 6 completed paintings on commission and have 7 more future orders.Now I consider myself an artist. I have been actively marketing to a specific group , planting seeds for future commissions. My technique is to sketch and paint trying to reproduce the image requested from a photo as accurately as I can .

I don't have any cultural message or any political agenda in my paintings, but I do always put my deceased son's name inconspicuously in my work in my rememberance of him.

My approach to the business end of the effort is to create a market for my creations. My critics are my buyers and My buyers gift the art to their customers in appreciation for their business as I have suggested them to.
I intend to increase the value of my future work by increasing the demand for my time.

This would be a great question for Nonmoochingartist! I haven't seen her contribute in a while.

I don't know why people pay for shit. I guess they can, it's the war of ideas that needs to be won here-not telling a society what they are to appreciate. Individuals appreciate art and I prefer an objective -as-possible take on the art criticism. That said, I did not agree with Rand on art completely.

No, nothing in totality but I see the outcome, the results and it began back in the twenties and thirtys.
I posted a piece last week I think on the history of so called "Modern Art"...the same happened in literature...all of it had it's effects on education. It's a process I call the making of useful idiots that made useless idiots...which by the way have found their way into education and government.

If something is to be Art, shouldn't it be valued by someone? If it is valued by someone, let them support it. If it is good art, isn't it clear that people have voluntarily supported it in the past and that if enough people value it the value increases?

My thinking is that art reflects culture but doesn't define it. The art you describe does describe some of our culture.

Funny how that goes....

Ever notice how the artists that insist the most that they should not have to compete in the free market work in media that has no major market?

Film - competes commercially
TV - competes commercially
music - competes commercially
literature - competes commercially

Painting/sculpture/hard media - split markets. Media of this type that is intended to be reproduced in volume competes commercially. One-offs serve niche markets.

Competing in any market, whether large and commercial or a small niche all have one thing in common.

For a market to have a transaction someone has to purchase whatever is being sold. That requires the "artist" to produce something that appeals to someone for that purchase.

"Artists" without that ability, or without it in sufficient measure always fall back on the "investment in society" meme. It is crap, and always has been.

This is a relatively recent development, throughout history artists had to earn their commissions.

TANSTAFFL

If Art defines Culture then you can see here why things are so screwed up. Art today denies, skill, reality and even the layers of hierarchy that resemble nature. We see this same trend in culture with be what ever you will, whether it creates value or not, whether it is successful or not and especially because it so often causes harm.

Culture and Art today define an anti-civilized, anti-lectual, bizarre paradigm that denies all things good, valuable and life sustaining.