Caveat Emptor

How wonderful - I get to combine two favorite things: art and a book review!

I have just finished reading Caveat Emptor by Ken Perenyi. It is the book of a dissolute New Jersey youth who found his way in to the underbelly of the art world with his considerable skills in forgery. It is both terribly written and very readable. Great story, but his amazing array of skills did not extend to writing.

I, like many reviewers, am deeply troubled by how amoral and remorseless this man is. As his career crescendoed, his forged works were being passed to auction houses and tony galleries across the US and England. This meant that despite his rationalization that he was getting back at snotty or criminal dealers, eventually these pieces ended up being purchased by unsuspecting collectors.

On the other hand, he is creating work for people who care more about the signature than the painting. While they have not gotten what they paid for - an authentic signature - they have gotten what they really wanted, which is to say they own a Buttersworth, a Heade or a Stubbs. Knowing the inauthentic nature of the piece would diminish their pleasure for sure, but these are not people who purchase for the pleasure of looking at a piece. One of the collectors (who aids Mr. Perenyi in "antiquing" techniques) enjoys that status seeking art buyers are getting their comeuppance.

He is clearly a good forger, but not quite good enough. Many dealers take short cuts to authenticate a piece, but soon enough the fraud is found out. At that point Pernyi has cashed the check and skipped town. He claims to have fooled the experts but the experts cottoned to their inauthenticity pretty quickly.

What is truly troubling is that nothing was ever done about this forger in our midst. The FBI had the goods on this guy. I was chatting about this with the art conservationist  who lent the book to me. She feels the market had been flooded by so many of his copies and that so many auction houses and "reputable" dealers were involved that it would have caused the art market to crash. It makes all of these players complicit in the fraud.

Another aspect of Mr. Perenyi's story is the number of unseemly characters who were involved at all levels of art sales. There are some incredibly sleazy people out there. And a few are involved in the art market.

On a final note it is interesting to know that people are now buying his work as reproductions. I find it amusing that people are willing to pass off a fake in an effort to create a "pedigree" for themselves with old world art. So many people, spending so much money....on so little.

- Sarah

Money and Art

A customer recently asked me what I thought of the movie Exit Through the Gift Shop. It is a mockumentary (my view) about street art that also passes judgement on the current art scene. Whether is  a real documentary or not doesn't matter. It raises questions worth pondering.....or expounding on.

Julia Jensen

The main character has his interest turned from filming street artists to becoming one.  His focus is on the marketing and branding of himself rather than creation of art. All effort is spent on creating hype and spectacle. It is equal parts chutzpah, money and grotesquerie. The jaw dropping wonder of this film is not that someone is creating bad art and trying to sell it but that critics and buyers believe what they have been told and are willing to hop on the proverbial bandwagon.

And this will bring me full circle to a point that I try to make again and again.... believe your eyes. It is not a bad thing to know the sales history of an artist, but it should not be the sole criteria for judging a piece of art. Being critical about art requires looking at a lot of it.... and making up your own mind. Don't be sucked in by publicity, hype or a gallery telling you that an artist is collectible or an investment. Remember that trend setting collectors, auction houses, artists and galleries have a stake in seeing prices on art sky rocket.

Katja Oxman

And this comes to my final point- the transaction. Why should and how much should you pay for a piece of art? How do you know if you are paying too much? Artists' prices are set and will be the same regardless of which gallery you purchase from. There are some galleries who have responded to the customers' demand for a discount by pushing the price up, but in general galleries and artists are charging a price commensurate with their skill and demand for the work. I try to get buyers to understand that the value is not necessarily  in the object but in an exchange of money which supports an artist whose work you like. Simply put- you are not buying a piece of art you are giving an artist a direct grant and in exchange you get a fabulous object to look at. So the questions to ask yourself are "can I afford this and do I love it  X number of dollars worth?" And this is true of any cultural pursuit.... if you value it and you think it has a place in your community then you should support it with the money that allows it to continue. This is true of music, film, books, the visual arts, dance and more.

Noriko Sakanishi

I had a  conversation recently with a long time collector. I called her bluff by pointing out that we both knew that she purchased many pieces to provide the artists with an income. She gave me a wink and pointed out that she only purchased work that she wanted and was willing to live with, but she is well aware of her role in changing the cultural landscape with her purchases. You too can help create the community and world you want by spending money on the quality of work you want to be surrounded by.