In 1957, French essayist Roland Barthes published "Mythologies," a collection of essays that uncover the hidden meanings of everyday objects and phenomena.

Reading through the endless unbelievable layers and significance of milk, toys, soap and more, I was beyond intrigued (who knew detergent could mean all that?).

So, I was inspired to do a deep dive into one of my favorite things in the world: museum gift shops.  

Here’s what I scavenged:

It’s often impossible to exit without browsing through the ear shaped erasers, impressionist scarves and other various trinkets that are like the final exhibit of the museum. And they really are. Curators actually utilize art stores to highlight and shape what artworks we understand as important. This is largely due to the mere-exposure effect — repeated exposure to something enhances our perception towards it. The "something" in this case is what we count as Great Art.

Besides the regular criticisms against modern life and consumption culture, there isn’t a particularly evil scheme at play. All that’s happening is that the museum’s preexisting standards for what counts as significant art are being reinforced through commerce. But art and commerce — it’s always been a tricky relationship.

Historically, art has been viewed as a form of creative luxury that needs protection from external influences with capitalism and commerce taking up a pretty big chunk. Art markets and art auctions are clear examples as the industry is driven by our desire to buy, sell and own artworks. Many may wonder: "What happens to the notion of art as a public good when its value is primarily measured in dollars?" After all, if an artist only creates based off of what will sell, then art becomes a commodity.

A famous display of this criticism is BANKSY’s "Girl With Balloon," a piece that got the world talking just four years ago in October 2018. Through the piece, BANKSY highlights that consumer preferences and desire for profit are reshaping art. I remember being a freshman in high school, utterly shocked to the core when I first saw the work in person. I mean, it was a million dollars!  

Art has been upheld as the antithesis of capitalism. Yet the art world, despite our wanting to believe otherwise, seems to be much intertwined with capitalism and consumerism.

However, what qualifies as art is an ever-changing standard. It doesn’t necessarily mean that art therein lacks value because it was produced by a commercial entity. The desire to own something beautiful is part of human nature, and history has proven it time and time again. What can anyone say — we like pretty things!

During my deep dive, I realized that the different interpretations of the significance of museum stores was like an onion — never ending. Curation, consumerism and aesthetics only broadly explain the power of the gift shop. There’s an endless array of things to think about from the nature of art, our supposed preferences, influences of color, what modern life is like, and how it’s, again, like an onion and what to eat for dinner and why we eat three times a day and thank God for dish washers and maybe I should read more and wait, who invented bookmarks?

I guess I won’t be sleeping tonight.