What constitutes an original artwork? What is the value of an artist-signed work? Is the authenticity of a work compromised by the artistic input of studio assistants and technicians? In the second half of this series, SASHA GRISHIN looks at the culture of silence surrounding fakes and dubious provenance that is rife in the art market.

The existence of fakes in the art market reflects the law of supply and demand, our society’s obsession with the idea of authenticity and the cult of the artist’s unique and individual genius. Buying an autograph work, in the mind of a collector, equates with owning a piece of the artist’s genius, with the name of the artist as the cherished commodity, while the quality of the art object can often be of secondary concern. If more attention was paid to the quality of the artwork, and less to the signature, fewer people would be duped into buying fakes...

To read more of this item and others, subscribe now or simply order Issue 17 of aAR by
clicking here

Image: Innuendo artist Will Blundell with one of his paintings. Courtesy Fairfaxphotos, Sydney. Photograph by Steven Siewert.