“ON FORGERY: IS ONE THING BETTER THAN ANOTHER?”, This Friday, May 6th

“ON FORGERY: IS ONE THING BETTER THAN ANOTHER?”

Curated by Andrew Berardini and Lesley Moon

Theft, forgery, fakery, authenticity and homage seem to be regularly exploited modalities in how artists and writers conceive of a practice. Picasso’s oft-quoted “Good artists borrow, great artists steal” is one of those dubious chestnuts likely repeated in the halls of art schools enough to be painted over the doors. From May 2nd to the 14th, LAxART is pleased to host a meditation on the nature of forgery in contemporary art, inviting 38 artists to respond to the notion of forgery, fakery, and the counterfeit. The exhibition hopes to explore what making (or even being) a fake means.

William S. Burroughs’ notion of language as a virus presupposes that nothing or little of what we say is original, everything starts out as a borrowing, a theft. The difference between forgery and appropriation is that, however temporary, there is an element of deception. For this exhibition, artists are encouraged to become forgers, plagiarizers, fakers. Is the titular author of Jorge Luis Borges’ “Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote” a forger, a plagiarist, or is his approach, entirely unique and likely impossible, a new form of real?

Practically speaking, there are "real" fakes floating out in the world, and they cause in art scandals and discussions, the most famous case likely being Hans van Meegeren’s fake Vermeer, that was widely admired until of course it was revealed as a forgery. Though Orson Welles’ F is for Fake tells the story another famous forger, Elmyr de Hory, the film touching upon conceits of what is “real” art, and in the process becoming a really beautiful sort of film essay on authorship and authenticity. To respond to the “real” fake, the exhibition will include a number of fakes drawn from the world.

Exhibiting Artists: Katie Aliprando, Kathryn Andrews, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Jennifer Bornstein, Marje C. Cohnck, Tyler Coburn, Fiona Connor, Eduardo Consuegra, Alika Cooper, Cayetano Ferrer, Andrea Fraser, Erik Frydenborg, Liz Glynn, Matthew Greene, Michael Henry Hayden, Is it Art or Fart?, William E. Jones,Dawn Kasper, Brian Kennon, Alex Klein and Mark Owens (Oslo Editions), David Korty, Nick Kramer, Lisa Lapinski, Sergio Sergio, Andrea Longacre-White, Anthony Lepore, Carter Mull, Gina Osterloh, The School of Fish, Davida Nemeroff, Karthik Pandian, Allen Ruppersberg, Robert Russell, Aaron Sandnes, Emily Steinfeld and Mateo Tannatt.

The opening reception will be held from 7 - 9pm on Friday, May 6th.

LAxART

2640 S. La Cienega Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90034