The Chinese painter at the centre of an 485 million yuan ($80 million) art forgery case insists he is innocent.
In September New York art dealer Glafira Rosales pleaded guilty to selling 63 forged artworks, some of which fetched up to $17 million. All the pieces were created by one man, a Chinese immigrant named Pei-Shen Qian
Qian was first approached to create the fake artworks in the 1980s when he was painting people’s portraits on Manhattan’s West Fourth Street. Qian was studying art at the time and worked as a janitor to support himself. He had left Shanghai in 1981 after the Cultural Revolution; before he immigrated he earned 65 yuan ($42) a month. He was offered $200 for his first faked piece.
For the next 15 years Qian painted imitation artworks for a man who he knew only as Carlos. Qian said he was told the paintings were for fans of some of modern art’s icons that couldn’t afford any of their real works.
Little did Qian know the paintings, which he made for a few thousand dollars, were sold on as originals at prestigious New York art galleries, such as Knoedler & Co. Wealthy buyers who were not informed art connoisseurs purchased the paintings with complete confidence. Duped buyer John Howard said he felt no need to check his painting’s authenticity. “If this person was selling these things on the street, we wouldn’t buy it. But this is the Knoedler gallery,” he said. Howard is one of seven people who has filed a civil case against the gallery.
The FBI have labelled Qian a “genius.” Experts who have examined the paintings have noted that even minute details of the forgeries stayed true to the original artist’s ways. “Whoever did these paintings was very well-informed of the practices of the artists,” modern art expert Jack Flam said. Qian said it was impossible to create an exact imitation, “from the papers to the paints to the composition. It’s impossible to do it exactly,” he said.
While other galleries have refunded their scammed patrons, Knoedler & Co refuse to do so. They deny committing any fraud and that anyone at the gallery was aware of the scheme concocted by Rosales and her ex-partner, who commissioned Qian.
Qian is upset about his involvement in the fraud and maintains his innocence. “I made a knife to cut fruit. But if others use it to kill, blaming me is unfair,” he said.
[Image via SCMP]
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