That there is a lot of art on Ebay is an understatement. There is a lot of art everywhere. Whether it is the only one of its kind in the world or not - it is often called, "original". Much of it is valuable, much of it is too beautiful for words to describe and much of it evokes feelings that defy explanation.

From the art historian's point of view, what does good art or great art have in common? Is it that it captures the imagination of the viewer, or that it touches the heartstrings of most people who view it? Is it because it was the first time an artist determined to describe an artistic expression in that manner? For example, describing the everyday world with points of light and color to create a scene as in pointillism.

From the art collector's point of view, is good art considered by the same guidelines that an art historian uses or as a museum curator applies to it? Does any art that fits into a category being collected by the collector or art dealer constitute "good"? The collections that are specific to a subject matter would find anything not of that subject matter to be undesirable, does that make it, in fact, undesirable or deemed worthless?

All good questions. All are questions asked sooner or later about works of art. I think the better question about any art is this:  What makes it valuable to me? Why do I want to be the one person in the world to own it right now and why do I want to include this piece of someone else's life in mine? Those are the questions I think about because art is a personal interaction for me between the emotional and intellectual experience I have with the artwork plus the intertwining of the artist's life with mine.

The body of work created by any individual artist is limited - it is a finite quantity that will never be repeated. The moments of their life creating that work will never occur again once it is completed. From the moment that I have accepted ownership of the art they've created, whether it is good or bad, valued, listed or qualified ceases to matter. I am at that point, a part of the history of that artist and their work. I am entwined with it and with its story in the life of that artist and within the place in my life where it joined mine.

Whatever piece of art it may be, it becomes a visual reference of a time and a place in my life along with a place in the life of the artist. So, it does matter to me if it is "original" meaning one of a kind created in some way by the artist's own hands and mind. It does matter to me that the art is in some way invented intellectually and emotionally by the artist's creative soul. It is important to me because I know the work is "unique" as in a one moment in a lifetime occurrence. Or, in fact, a one moment in many lifetimes event that is unlikely to be repeated. It is like the birth of a star in the heavens where no two stars are alike. It is real.

There is a lot of art everywhere, Ebay included. It is easy to take it for granted at an art show or looking at it on the internet and on Ebay. Art is not like any other collectible anywhere on the planet in one respect. Art conveys a pure sense of thought from one mind to another visually, intellectually and emotionally all in one moment from the personal internal landscape of the artist directly to the personal internal world of the viewer. Nothing else does that - not food, not sports, not even literature, though it comes close. No other collectible can do that.

That is what sustains art through generations and creates its basic value regardless of all the factors involved in the questions of good art, good taste, high brow, low brow, outsider, gallery supported, juried, listed, not listed or recognized as art. The very fact that real art is an available asset right now makes it appealing as an investment which will always return more to me than I have given for it. The bonus is that it makes me forever intertwined with the life and history of an artist living in my lifetime. That I can own that is remarkable.