Buying a Warhol and drowning it in a mass of fakes is the bet of a New York collective, which has just sold all these works for 250 euros each.
The New York collective, which made itself known in the spring with the "satanic" sneakers supposed to contain a drop of blood, did it again this week by selling 1,000 copies of a drawing by Andy Warhol at the same price, only one of which is the original. On a website called the "Museum of Counterfeiting", the MSCHF collective claims to have purchased 1954 drawing by the master of pop art, "Fairies", which it estimates at $ 20,000. They produced 999 exact replicas and mixed the original with the fakes, ensuring no longer knowing where "the good" Warhol is.
On sale Monday, October 25, the 1,000 copies of what MSCHF considers to be a new work, titled "Maybe a true copy of Andy Warhol's fairies," "were all sold on the same day." collective. MSCHF (pronounced "Mischief", mischief in English) has uploaded a video showing the technique used: a robotic arm to copy the drawing, a process of "artificial aging" using light and heat, then manual reproduction of the seal of the Warhol Foundation and the annotations in pencil, explained one of the members, Kevin Wiesner, in an email to AFP. "If a (art) curator was able to inspect each drawing side by side, he would eventually discover the original.
Beyond a juicy financial transaction, the total sales amounting to 250,000 dollars, MSCHF says it wants to criticize the concepts of "authenticity" and "exclusivity" which predominate in the art market, by this operation of "locking" a work of Warhol. "Our goal is to 'destroy' the design by breaking the chain of trust," says Kevin Wiesner. Contacted by AFP, the Warhol Foundation did not immediately react.
MSCHF, a collective created in 2016 and based in Brooklyn, specializes in operations to re-appropriate works of art or commercial objects. One of the latest, the creation and sale of the "satanic" sneakers (for $ 1,018 a pair) whose soles were believed to contain a drop of human blood. In a partnership with American rapper Lil Nas X, it led the original manufacturer of the model, Nike, to sue MSCHF for infringement and brand dilution. The collective then resolved to recall the "Satan shoes".
read in Capital.fr written by 6 media.
Opinion: I disagree with this type of commercial operation because that's what it is in fine. You have now 999 fake Andy Warhol drawings in the hands of people... Many will try to sell theirs for the big $, since it has the stamp of the foundation, and only an expert could see the difference! 20,000 x 999 or let's make it 1000 , easier for the calculation: = $ 20,000,000 999 people will have a fake Warhol on their wall ... Does MSCHF one second think about the damage they made to so many people. Does MSCHF one second think at the work it will give to appraisers ( thinking by seeing the Foundation Warhol stamp that it is authentic) like it is not enough that there are already so many fakes on the market. Adding 999 fake drawings on the market is just a scandalous action. art expert: vwart.com
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