On the subject of snobbery in the art world, I came across this Bowie interview - here’s the transcript.
“The art world is basically a commerce establishment. A perfect example is, that there were many Signers or Graffiti artists working in the late 70s and early 80s. Why should it be that only 2 or 3 of them (Scharf, Haring, Basquiat) were elevated to a point that there was something special about these guys? It behoves the art establishment to elevate them to a higher plateau as fast as possible to make them unavailable aesthetically to a lower art market. Consign the idea of art to a particular world. It’s fundamental to keep an established art world that the mystery is kept in place, because once it falls into the hands of the proletariat, that the ability to make art is in fact inherent in all of us, it demolishes the idea that art is commerce and that’s no good for business.”
So could the art world masquerade behind the guise of “good taste” and scarcity, which in turn creates demand which in turn inflates the value of the commodity.
And so the pretentious few are not necessarily the connoisseurs - they are businesses protecting their assets, their markets. Value judgements might not be about the art at all. As Bowie says, art is for all and in turn should speak to all.