ART SERIES HOTELS ASK—CAN YOU SPOT A FAKE WARHOL?
Australia’s Art Series Hotel Group is testing your knowledge of fine art—or at least how to spot it. They’ve brought together the worlds greatest living art forger, Tony Tetro, with one of the worlds most forged artists – Andy Warhol – to ask you…which Warhol is Warhol’s? Think you can tell? Read on…
Tetro, who actually served five years in prison (1989-1994) after being tried for forgery in Los Angeles, has been commissioned to produce nine replica Warhols that will hang in the hotels alongside a genuine one until August 3.
Starting last night, guests staying at an Art Series Hotel—a group of luxury hotels each named after a famed contemporary Australian artist— will be asked to pick the “real‟ from the fake from a line up of 10. One fake will be revealed each week and given away as prizes, with an original Warhol given to one of the guests who picks Warhol’s Warhol.
The hotel group’s CEO, Will Deague isn’t being flippant at hiring a convicted art faker for this most interesting of promotions. “Art Forgery is a serious issue facing the international art industry. Tony Tetro is a prime example of how commonplace it seems to be to replicate the classics. Tetro and other forgery artists have made a business out of reproducing our art masters including Warhol, Picasso, Monet and even our own namesake artist, Charles Blackman. In running Which Warhol, we’re looking to profile this serious issue and stimulate discussion and debate around the production of replica art. What does it mean for the industry, how can you pick a fake from a real, what value do we actually place on art?” he said.
What do you think? Sure the promotion is an amazing idea—who wouldn’t want to walk away from a night in an Ozzie hotel with a real live Warhold—but what of people who replicate other people’s work? What if someone copied—thread for thread—a McQueen collection? What about buying fakes? Anyone ever been to Canal Street in New York City?
The Blackman 452 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004
The Cullen 164 Commercial Road, Prahran 3181 VIC 3141
The Olsen 637 – 641 Chapel Street, South Yarra VIC 3141
