In our Knoedler Gallery Fraud series finale, we discuss the end of the Knoedler Gallery, the arrest of one of the fraudsters, and explore the De Sole lawsuit extravaganza. We ask the question of what authenticity means within the art world and how important it truly is, from the walls of a prestigious gallery in New York to the Chinese village of Dafen where art reproductions were famously made by the hundreds. And of course, we armchair analyze the notorious Ann Freedman.

“And so art is dead, not only because its critical transcendence is gone, but because reality itself, entirely impregnated by an aesthetic which is inseparable from its own structure, has been confused with its own image.” - Jean Baudrillard, Simulations

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/arts/fbi-art-crime-team.html

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visual-arts/david-mirvish-acknowledges-fakes-in-new-york-art-fraud-scandal/article_84b3ab29-c05b-5e0d-9a1d-b23b7a80e4fa.html

https://maddoxgallery.com/news/454-what-is-blue-chip-art/

https://itsartlaw.org/art-law/wywh-knoedler-trial-uncut-week-1/

https://www.clm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7830293_1-1.pdf

Varga, Somogy and Charles Guignon, "Authenticity", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/authenticity/>.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/what-if-readers-like-ai-generated-fiction

https://news.artnet.com/market/knoedler-fraud-trial-jack-flam-martha-parrish-419594

https://brooklynrail.org/2014/03/art/the-held-essays-on-visual-artin-defense-of-faking-it/#_edn1

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/opinion/sunday/in-praise-of-art-forgeries.html

https://hyperallergic.com/why-chinas-infamous-copycat-town-now-invests-in-original-artworks/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-chinas-art-market-is-evolving-from-knockoffs-to-new-works

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dafen-village-china-replicas-2672642