“An interesting public experiment is being conducted to test how easy it is for people to spot a relatively cheaply produced fake painting. It seems likely that the results will not yield any great surprises and that the importance of ongoing art protection technology cannot be overestimated.”
A major British art gallery has launched an interesting challenge by deliberately hanging a forged work of art and challenging members of the public to try and spot which one it is.
At the time of writing, the results of this experiment haven’t been published as it is still underway but it is clear from the reactions of many visitors that the challenge is entirely beyond them.
Whether or not this experiment is likely to change our understanding of the problem is open to question. For many decades, scandal after scandal has indicated that even established experts can be duped by forgeries. So, it seems unlikely in this case that the results will show anything different.
As we have commented before, the sad reality of life in the 21st century is that it can be exceptionally difficult and sometimes even impossible to be absolutely sure that a work of art is the genuine article – at least not without extensive in-depth laboratory analysis.
Yes, some forgeries are so bad that they can be spotted in an instant by most people but many are so good that another solution is required.
There are, in fact, a number of options that can be adopted here including our art forgery protection solutions incorporating DNA encoded materials into things such as resins, dies and paints. These mean that in future there should never be any difficulty in proving whether the piece is by the person it purports to be or not.
While we welcome interesting experiments such as the one mentioned above, we doubt very much if it will show anything other than the on-going need to take art protection seriously.
To know more about Anti Counterfeit Technologies, call us at 1300664202.