Faking it!

Who would have thought that a downturn would be the perfect opportunity for an upturn in fake art.

On any given day I receive several mails from ids I am unfamiliar with, ids that are probably created for limited periods and then shut down, from senders I don’t know, offering discounts on artists at prices that are negotiable. At a time when art prices have crashed, this would not otherwise be surprising and could even be considered innovative if it weren’t for the fact that these are probably fake works of art.

The fake art industry in India has deeper penetration than most realise, and is flourishing because of the active connivance of buyers who seem willing to spend considerable sums if they think the signature can pass muster within their peer group. Gallerists will not admit to this widespread malaise, but artists are perturbed by the extent to which the contagion has spread.

Nor is it likely to be contained any time soon, even given the current environment when collectors can actually lay their hands on works by artists at prices that appear much more affordable.

When the art market was booming, there was every reason to suspect that unscrupulous elements could be passing off fakes as genuine canvases. But that this should be on the rise during a meltdown is what appears contradictory — though it isn’t if you study the modus operandi.

In the good old days or till last year anyway, the suspects were usually acolytes, artists themselves who assisted their mentors, filled in colours, helped with the layering, watched a work in progress develop into a work of art: for them to repeat the process in the privacy of their own studios, mostly as a matter of style, was like a sleight-of-hand, and these unaccounted works of living artists thrived till very recently, when artists took it upon themselves to ask collectors to get works verified by them.

Other offenders were students or graduates from art schools who would be lured by those on the fringes of the art fraternity — such as framers, for instance – to copy existing works of artists.

Some time last year a very senior artist explained to me that he would receive every week at least a few queries from collectors regarding their authenticity. Did he find fake works among them? “Oh, every week,” he reported.

The current faking racket seems a more willful one, and much of it revolves around drawings. Scamsters, it appears, get hold of original drawings — or prints — and simply make copies (never too many since that would draw attention) using a photocopier and appropriate (old, drawing) paper: what better way of faking an original and then passing it off as the original!

If the market for drawings — by Akbar Padamsee, Souza, Jamini Roy, Sunil Das, Laxma Goud, Krishen Khanna & Co – has seen a spurt, much of it can be attributed to these fake operations, and its working in collusion with less-than-sincere collectors. But first: why would someone be lured in by fakes? The answer to that one is money.

Let us say, for argument’s sake, that a Souza drawing, which is expected to sell for Rs 4 lakh, is offered to you for Rs 1 lakh. The argument that provenance was not an issue during Souza’s lifetime, that it’s only a drawing, besides consider the rock bottom price of the offer…is usually compelling enough to attract buyers (especially those who are not investors) who won’t be bothered about seeking authentication.

Others might be offered the same Souza fake for as little as Rs 40,000, collectors who ought to know better and realise that it is a fake. Why would they then buy it? Because on their wall, amidst genuine art treasures, the Rs 40,000 fake could pass off as a Rs 4 lakh original. These are the kind of collectors who do it only to impress their guests, yet would not pay, say, only Rs 4,000 for it — even fake art must have some value in their reckoning.

Unfortunately, with sophisticated printing systems now available fairly cheap, it isn’t just drawings that are easy to fake, but even works by artists such as Manjeet Bawa, or SH Raza: special vinyl laminates are available as backgrounds that closely replicate canvas, and if you can post a Subodh Gupta fake on your living room wall without anyone knowing the better, why, the Rs 2 lakh fake is a better investment than the Rs 2 crore original — at least in some eyes.