The Tasmanian Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) made global headlines when it hung artwork by Pablo Picasso in its women’s bathroom just added another layer to the iconic story, revealing that the artworks were frauds.
Kirsha Kaechele, artist and partner of MONA’s founder, confessed in a blog post that she had “no choice but to explain” that the three so-called “priceless” pieces hanging in the ladies toilets were actually fakes she painted years ago.
These artworks have been the cause of plenty of controversy over the last few years. First, they were displayed in an exclusive Ladies Lounge at MONA — that resulted in the museum losing a discrimination lawsuit when one NSW man got mad he couldn’t see them.
More recently the paintings made news again when they were hung in another exclusive men-free room, the female toilets, in an amazing tongue-in-cheeky response to men being butthurt when they couldn’t see the art.
However, after being contacted by journalists and France’s official Picasso Administration, she came clean on the secret that she had been keeping for the last three years and seven months.
Admitting that she thought that someone would notice, Kaechele said: “I waited for weeks. Nothing happened. I was sure it would blow up. But it didn’t.”
“I imagined that a Picasso scholar, or maybe just a Picasso fan, or maybe just someone who googles things, would visit the Ladies Lounge and see that the painting was upside down and expose me on social media,” she wrote.
And yet nobody ever came to ask her about the fakes until three years, one lawsuit, and countless news stories later.
Kaechele shared in the blog post that she forged the Picasso dupes herself several years ago after she first had the idea to display the controversial artist’s work in MONA’s Ladies Lounge.
“I liked that a misogynist would dominate the walls of the Ladies Lounge,” the artist stated.
“And if men were to feel as excluded as possible, the Lounge would need to display the most important artworks in the world—the very best.”
Picasso is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of all time, known for his surrealist, modern, and cubist art.
He is also widely regarded as a massive misogynist who took a 17-year-old mistress when he was 30 years older than her, believing that they were both in their prime.
To start her confession, Kirsha Kaechele referred to a quote from the controversial artist on the complex relationship between art and truth:
“Art is a lie that makes us realise truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of [her] lies.”
So if art is a lie, then lying about owning a Picasso and making the world talk about it hanging in the MONA ladies’ toilet could be the greatest piece of art in the world.
Hang it in the Loo-uvre.
The post MONA Artist Confesses She Faked Three ‘Priceless’ Picasso Paintings And Nobody Had A Clue appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
