I used to know someone who was obsessed with collecting original Mark Kostabi paintings, which, at the time were fetching in the 4-to-5-figure range. I'll admit that the paintings were somewhat clever, ironic and whimsical, but I certainly did not think they merited the high price tags. And I did not have the heart to keep reminding this person that Mark Kostabi is actually a horde of people painting under the Mark Kostabi brand (Kostabi even admitted so himself!). And with "original art" you are really buying the provenance to the work moreso than the art for the sake of art. As such, it really is pointless to pay that kind of money for art that has no provenance. And this is probably the case with most of the more popular contemporary artists today. I would be very careful about that.
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