we value the object, commodity, or gift, but not the producers or their labor

Sarah Jaffe wrote a great piece on rethinking art as work, where she addresses the devaluing of artists' labor, the difficulties of art funding, and this neoliberal marginalizing of art along both lines of quality and production.  Here's an excerpt:
 
"Art is important. Art gets us, it stimulates us, challenges us, lets us vent our feelings and thoughts, lets us create alternate worlds, alternate realities. It allows us to imagine something that doesn’t yet exist. It builds bridges, creates communities, allows new forms of communication.

But it requires work, time, money. And a recent survey noted that while 96% of U.S. respondents thought art was valuable and inspiring, only 27% of them valued the artists who make it."