My cousin is a gallerist in NY. She has a theory that the reason the art market has gotten so out of control in recent years is because of how easy it is to smuggle and launder money with art. With art, there's no title, no ownership history, and records are non-existent in many cases. One can essentially move money at will across international borders if it's tied up in an expensive work of art that can be easily resold on the other side. It's a little bit brilliant.

But the other side, being disillusioned by how dumb art collectors can be, get over yourself. People collect art for different reasons. Some enjoy the art for it's own sake, and some want a more interesting place to park their money. Not everyone is going to understand every piece on a deep level. So some rich person doesn't know the difference between a photo and a painting? Big deal, at least they're keeping you employed. I think judging people as stupid, because you have a moral superiority complex is a bit out of touch with reality. There's a lot of good art and a lot of bad art in the world; the difference is often purely subjective, and who knows why X gets hot and Y withers and dies in obscurity.