Should We Really Praise Art Forgers?

The NY Times‘ Blake Gopnik on why fakes and forgers are good for the art world and why they help tame the art market.

Forgers, on the other hand, help preserve modern art’s productive uncertainty. …We may also want to bless forgers for helping to tame our absurd art market. If speculators eventually are scared off by the danger of being stuck with fakes, prices may fall.

Good enough. Unfortunately, these fakes also engender needless lawsuits against those that are honestly opining on the authenticity (or lack thereof) of artworks, sellers, and middle-entities such as auction houses.

Does public ‘access’ to fake works override the needless financial expenditures on lawyers and lawsuits, not to mention the time and energy spent dealing with these headaches?

Tags: Art Law, auction houses, aura, authentication, fakes, forgeries, Gopnik, ny times