Do you like art less when the price goes down?

Authentic Art Visions highlighted an interesting article in her blog yesterday about scientific findings that show people like things less when the price of the thing is low. If you're buying and selling art as a short-term investment, then this conclusion may be relevant as the art market starts feeling the effects of the recession. But what I think is especially important to consider when reading this article is that it is further proof that you really ought to just collect art that you love and not worry too much about the price beyond consideration for what you can afford. Frankly, I can't imagine ever selling anything from my art collection so it really does not matter whether the market value of anything in my collection goes up or down.

But getting back to the real point of the article, do I like art less if it is less expensive? There is plenty of expensive art that I abhor and plenty of cheap art that I love. But I cannot say that the price tag doesn't have SOME impact on what I think about the art. For example, when an artist exhibits in a gallery, a lot of concrete information about the artist is reflected in the price of the artist's work and therefore gives me some confidence that the price somewhat equates to the quality of the work and therefore may influence me to like the work a little more. The gallery price is not a perfect indication of quality but I know that in a good gallery, the price has been vetted through a process based on definable factors and is a pretty good indicator.

I can confidently say, though, that you cannot make me like a work of art more by making it more expensive. But I have noticed that I scrutinize art more when the price is low. I don't think it is a huge revelation to say that in general, when something costs less, it may be of lower quality and therefore requires more scrutiny. However, after some scrutiny, I may decide that the work is good quality despite the low price. Coming to that conclusion requires educating myself about art and artists and art collecting. The more I educate myself about art and the more I hone my eye for looking at art, the better I can make decisions about the quality of art based on much much more than the price.