son Shaun and his elderly parents, George and Olive. It seems that there is a psychological difference between a single person who copies artworks (whether for monetary gain or not) and a group of people all committing a fraud together. This article claims that the group did not carry out these frauds for money, but rather due to "resentment of the art market." Shaun's obvious skill suggests that this statement could be true--certainly he could make some sort of living selling copies of great works of art--but these three wanted to undermine the whole art market. Still, a single piece successfully sold and then revealed to be a fake would signal their resentment at least as effectively as several pieces successfully sold and never discovered to be forgeries. I'm not convinced that they were trying to make a point. The art market has always been ridiculous and has never been fair, just like every other market. I'm mostly just certain that they were trying to make money.26 March, 2010
The Forger Family
One of the most recent major art forgery operations was carried out by the Greenhalgh family: artist son Shaun and his elderly parents, George and Olive. It seems that there is a psychological difference between a single person who copies artworks (whether for monetary gain or not) and a group of people all committing a fraud together. This article claims that the group did not carry out these frauds for money, but rather due to "resentment of the art market." Shaun's obvious skill suggests that this statement could be true--certainly he could make some sort of living selling copies of great works of art--but these three wanted to undermine the whole art market. Still, a single piece successfully sold and then revealed to be a fake would signal their resentment at least as effectively as several pieces successfully sold and never discovered to be forgeries. I'm not convinced that they were trying to make a point. The art market has always been ridiculous and has never been fair, just like every other market. I'm mostly just certain that they were trying to make money.
son Shaun and his elderly parents, George and Olive. It seems that there is a psychological difference between a single person who copies artworks (whether for monetary gain or not) and a group of people all committing a fraud together. This article claims that the group did not carry out these frauds for money, but rather due to "resentment of the art market." Shaun's obvious skill suggests that this statement could be true--certainly he could make some sort of living selling copies of great works of art--but these three wanted to undermine the whole art market. Still, a single piece successfully sold and then revealed to be a fake would signal their resentment at least as effectively as several pieces successfully sold and never discovered to be forgeries. I'm not convinced that they were trying to make a point. The art market has always been ridiculous and has never been fair, just like every other market. I'm mostly just certain that they were trying to make money.
25 March, 2010
Lawsuits and Plagiarism
People like Blair Hornstine, pictured left, are a waste of everyone's time. This disgustingly sappy pro-Blair website discusses the plight of poor Blair Hornstine, who sued a school district for 2.7 million dollars because she was forced to share valedictorian honors with a student who didn't get to take his classes from home or skip P.E. I'm sure there's not much talk in that site about the fact that she plagiarized school newspaper articles and Harvard rescinded her admission. I have nothing but contempt for fakers like these, people who will live their entire lives as lies (what kind of congenital medical condition do you have, Blair?) and cut any corner possible instead of legitimately working and studying like almost everyone else has to. I don't know her, and perhaps I'm doing her some injustice, but I do know that she plagiarized, and a person who plagiarizes is certainly capable of other forms of fraud as well. She will probably continue to succeed, unless some sort of cosmic karma really does exist.
24 March, 2010
Cheaper than the Real One...
Today my spam email directed me to this website, unapologetically advertising the best false diplomas money can buy. The email encouraged me to "change [my] life a bit with our novelty documents" and to "just take a chance." For me, the potential repercussions of this type of lie would be crippling, both emotionally and professionally. Is it impossible to succeed without lying about yourself? Do we all have to make ourselves look better than we are, even to the extent of falsifying documents? Also, what kind of laws are in place against this type of fraud? I wonder whether an employer can sue an employee if he finds out that he was lying on his résumé. I hope he can.
23 March, 2010
Art Forgery
Forgery, perhaps only because I am more and more interested in it, seems to be of increasing interest to the public. An exhibition of the works by the subject of the film F for Fake, Elmyr de Hory, is currently on display in Minnesota. De Hory's protege and inheritor (oddly named Forgy), has launched the show of his "friend's" works, including one authentic artist's work and dozens of de Hory's fakes. This article discusses the relationship between the two. I think I admire art forgers, for their artistic skill mostly, but I also wonder how satisfying it can be to copy someone else's work all your life. Is money a motivation, or pride, or something else? Perhaps I should start trying to write "lost" Gaddis novels and see how it goes. Somehow there's a difference between that and an art forgery.
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