The Wall Art Hustle

It's a dangerous thing to create fake pieces with the

signature of a contemporary artist, as there's not in enough

money in it. Forgers can fool a person into paying the

same ten or thirty thousand dollars for a knock-off

they would get for a forged copy without having to run

the risk of facing prison time. You start seeing forgeries in

master level works, such as fake Picassos, Rembrandts, or

fake fabergé eggs, which are very popular today.

When it comes to a living and established artist,

someone is always trying to knock off his or her

work. There is an industry here in the U.S. of public art

shows and auctions selling low cost oil originals, which are

blatant copies of what well-known artists are doing. Third

rate American art dealers and wholesalers buy these pieces

from virtual sweatshops run in China, Russia, and other

countries exploited by economic pressures. The shameless

imitations are superficially identical to the original

counterpart, but because it's a knock-off, not a forgery, the

artists will usually sign the English version of their own

name. The ambiguity of international copyright laws

and the expense of suing every one involved have

allowed these pirating practices to continue

unchecked.