Frauds and fakes in the Australian aboriginal art market

Abstract

This article examines the topic of problematic art in

The Invisible Crime: Exploring How Perceptions of Victimhood and the Art Market May Influence Art Fraud Reporting

“…Australia, for instance, lacks a specialized art crime unit, most likely because there are too few reported cases to justify the expense. 117 A survey of art gallery directors in Australia in 2001 explored professionals' opinions on law enforcement support. The survey found that 53 percent of respondents felt police response to art fraud was inadequate in part because they were not "treat[ing] art fraud as seriously as other fraud."…”

“…Similarly, when previously unknown paintings by Brett Whiteley emerged in 2010, influential figures in the Australian art world were furious that the police were not investigating what they viewed as unequivocally false works because an alleged victim had dropped his complaint. 119 The police did not charge the defendants until nearly six years after the tip in part because for five of those years only one officer worked on the case and "struggle[ed] to get anyone interested." 120 According to Christine Alder, Duncan Chappell, and Kenneth Polk, the Australian police's unresponsiveness could be because "the victims may not seem by the police to be as 'worthy' as other victims [and] such offenses may not be viewed as 'real crime' and thereby given any priority by police leadership."…”

“Paintings Can Be Forged, But Not Feeling”: Vietnamese Art—Market, Fraud, and Value

“…Preventing art crime is crucial for the protection of humanity values and wealth (Alder and Polk 2007;Durney and Proux 2011;Fletcher 2017;Hill 2008). In the context of a small and emerging art market such as that of Australia, James (2000) claims that forgery and fakes make Australian art untrustworthy to the international art market, damage its reputation and reduce its economic value; meanwhile, the current Australian legal system is incapable of dealing with the ambiguity of art fraud (Alder et al 2011). Similarly, Vietnamese art is currently facing the poisoning effect of art fraud but there is almost no thorough investigation into this problem.…”

“…Among existing problems, art crimes need to be prevented because they harm art economically, historically, and culturally. For small, nascent art markets, art crime, and especially art fraud, can be detrimental to the image of entire said art markets and cause trouble for the art system (Alder et al 2011;James 2000).…”

“…In Australia, their acrylic paintings suddenly became "contemporary Aboriginal art" when the artists sought for outside audience and different people bring it to the international art market (Myers 2002). The jump from the local market to the international one has made Aboriginal art face the problem of art fraud that the Australian legal system is not ready to deal with (Alder et al 2011). In the United States, the prestige of a cultural hub like New York dwarfs the small art community like in St. Louis, and Plattner (1996) shows that profit was never the main motivation for the artist.…”