Why do paintings that look like scribbles sell?

I've seen paintings at art galleries and showcases that look like my 3 yr old daughter made them. (and even she could do a better job.) Some of them look like the artist had a temper tantrum and chucked paint at the canvas or had some sort of catastrophe in the art room. Others looked like the artist just began painting, couldn't decide what he was going to paint, and decided to leave a dot in the middle of the canvas and sell it that way. If this is the case, then shouldn't I be able to put some gibberish on a page or some cooky sentence and sell it as the greates novel ever sold? I simply don't understand why these paintings get so much attention; abstract or not, they should have a pattern or at least something symmetricaly understandable about them. Can someone please explain. Thanks

I don't think it's over my head, William G, I think that art is subjective and that something is there in everything that anybody draws, obviously. And that people buy these nonsense paintings because they were made by someone with a name and some money. There is a name for it. It's called elitism. And it's an excuse for pretentious bull ****. So maybe you should look closer because the situation is obviously way over your head.

You have to have a name or money backing you to be able to sell your items. Have you ever noticed that designers have a name and most of the stuff they make looks like crap. Look at Paris Hilton do you think she would be anyone without the name and money? No!

Because people like those sort of paintings

I know what you mean!! They should actually paint SOMETHING, not scribbles. That stuff is so ugly and boring!!

well i guess it's a new era in art...modern art. i guess it's because the artist somehow interprets feeling into it, so that makes it all the more powerful. you could make a dot in the center of a paper and it'd mean nothing, but if you somehow put your emotion into that one dot, a whole new meaning could be born and somehow people like that stuff nowadays.

There's a story explaining this. It's called "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Because where it is a scribble drawn by an artist or a drawing by your daughter, art is art. People have different opinions on what should be art and what should. There is no right painting or wrong painting. There's only different paintings.

This is a philistine's question. You should open your mind a little. Your daughter really wouldn't paint a modern masterpiece (at least not for a while). You must know that you are overlooking something. You should find out what before dismissing something that is obviously over your head.

I agree William G!!! I have my BFA in metalsmithing and a minor in art history and will be going on to grad school next year. Art is in the eye of the viewer, you are not always going to like every painting. Granted, some of the minimalist movements weren't my favorite they were still meaningful and just as valid of an art form as any other style. Educate yourself before you make harsh judgments, go take an art history class at a local college, then judge it for yourself.