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When I think about the phrase “Commodity Fetish” in relation to modern art, It makes two things come to mind. (1) Pop Art and it’s relation to Mass Media, and (2) Karl Marx’s explanation of the phenomenon referred to as Commodity Fetish. Marx used the term Commodity Fetishism in Das Kapital to underline how commodities appear to be considerable objects but are actually networks of social relationships. In other words, many objects are bought for the sole reason of prestige, rather than overall practicality. Knowing this, commodities are fetishized by metaphysical and religious wishful thinking. In other words, commodity fetishism is an arrogant obsession with the status of their owner’s possessions, and their exchange value independent of their "actual" worth, in whatever currency. When this is used to describe art, the concept indicates both the aspiration for possession above all else, and an innocent praise of idealistic conceptions of art, artwork, and genius.
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