Process art
ABSTRACT
Wifredo Lam is one of the most universal Cuban artists and is also the Cuban artist with the most forgeries on the black art market. The high prices of his works, together with his enormous production of drawings and the ease with which period materials are found in Cuba, have made Lam a favorite target for forgers. This work is a fictitious story, constructed with fragments of the personal history of my grandfather, Federico Siré, and that of Lam, which coincides with a common scenario: the transatlantic crossing from Marseilles to Cuba while the artist was fleeing from Europe at war. To this end, I intervene in the production of forgeries to create a series of drawings that copy the illustrations made by Lam for the book of poems Fata Morgana, written by André Breton in 1941. If altering a fact of the past can modify the perception of the present, what are the underlying margins of reality in the creation and interpretation of the works of the great masters of art? This project, from a self-referential perspective, is a tribute to Wifredo Lam and exposes the economic and production systems within the world of forgeries.
STATEMENT
Wifredo Lam is one of Cuba’s most universal artists and is also the Cuban artist with the most forgeries on the black art market. The high prices of his works, together with his enormous production of drawings and the ease with which period materials such as paper and ink are found in Cuba, have made Lam a favorite target for forgers.
Authentication processes in Cuba are scarce and are generally undertaken without the support of the relevant chemical analysis, due to the lack of equipment and materials. The process is mainly based on a qualitative study of the piece, to establish its historical route and/or its path from the artist’s hand to its owner. This volume of information forms a dossier that is attached to the work.
The purpose of this work is to reconstruct the history of my family. I have connected my grandfather, who emigrated to Cuba from France in the forties of the last century, with Lam on his return trip to the island while fleeing from Europe at war. To do so, I intervene in the production of forgeries -which live in the shadows of the art world- to create a series of drawings that copy the illustrations made by Lam for the book of poems Fata Morgana, written by André Breton in 1941. These five drawings, of the nearly 200 that emerged from his hand and have been lost in time, were jealously guarded by my family for several decades. It is a fictitious story, assembled with fragments of the personal history of my grandfather, Federico Siré, and that of Lam, which coincides with a common scenario: the transatlantic crossing from Marseilles to Cuba.
If altering an event of the past can modify the perception of the present, what are the margins of reality underlying the creation and interpretation of the works of the great masters of art? This project, from a self-referential perspective, is a tribute to Wifredo Lam and my way of updating his work by exposing the economic and production systems within the world of forgeries.
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