Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art.
It is an American documentary, directed by Barry Avrich, about the largest art fraud in American history. A number of paintings falsely attributed to Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko were sold by a total of $ 80 million to covetous collectors. The movie focuses on the forgers and the art gallery owner and manager's cynicism and meanness. Yet, I was more shocked by the billionaires that bought the artworks and then asked for a reimbursement when the fake was revealed. Suddenly, they did not appreciate the beauty of the paintings they had purchased and hanged at their mansions. Had they ever done? In the broad picture of things, I think the documentary's most interesting message is about how some art has become a luxury good. This is defined by economists as a product that that must be sold in small quantity in order to maintain its reputational value, independently of their utility or, in this case, the aesthetic pleasure it might provide. It involves a total challenge to the abstract art originated in the 1950s that was despised and derided for many years but became the object of braggadocio and speculation a few decades later. Perhaps an ephemeral outburst?
