In 1962 I began my studies of art in the newly founded School of Fine Arts from the city of Cúcuta (Colombia). There, a wonderful book that contained the most important works of the MoMA collection arrived in my hands, which became a magical encounter that would have implications until today: I remember clearly the impactful work of Francis Bacon (a person without a head, dressed in black suit and as background, the open body of an animal). The surreal landscape by Yves Tanguy, titled "Mom, Dad is Hurt"; disconcerting denomination that influenced the names of my works from that moment (In those times I titled an exhibition of drawings as: "Aphrodisiacs to observe of dessert"). "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dalí, "The Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, "The Sleeping Gypsy" by Henri Rousseau, "The lovers" by René Magritte...
Pablo Picasso appears with "Guernica", for me the most emblematic work of the 20th century; "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon", "The Three Musicians", "Night Fishing at Antibes", "Sleeping Peasants", "Frugal Meal", "Girl Before a Mirror"...
That copy, published by the University of Puerto Rico, was my main book and my
artistic bible, which I lent and never returned to my hands, but I remember page
by page.
In 1980 I had the opportunity to live in New York and the MoMA was a priority for me,
because it allowed me to meet face to face, live and live, with the works that I admired so much since boy.
I remember the emotion of being in front of "Guernica" and approaching almost to touch it, which the jealous guards were not allowed.
That year I received the most precious gift, since the museum inaugurated the retrospective exhibition with the 1000 works of Picasso...
Since my beginnings in art, I was interested in keeping a photographic record of my creative activity, so I have more than 10,000 images and 50,000 sketches in pencil.
As of 1975 I decided to number my works and at the moment I have an average of 3,000 duly cataloged works.
This serves the purpose of having an exhaustive record of my work, which in turn helps to clarify which works have been falsified.
Yes, indeed, they have tried to falsify my work, but they have been unfortunate cases. Two works placed in an auction in Caracas, supposedly mine, were withdrawn by the warning of an art critic who warned the fraud. There have also been some drawings that I detected in the 70's and I do not discard that there are many more, which I will only check when I am asked to do a certification.
I was always interested in the topic of fakes and since 1980 I began to produce certificates of authenticity that described the each work and then in the 1990s, I changed the format by one which included the photograph of the piece.
Later, in 2004, I added the fingerprint in the certificate and sometimes in the work.
Then I thought about adding a hair to reinforce the authenticity but I have not done it yet…
All this process was conceived in safeguarding and preserving my artistic heritage.
It is important to keep in mind that counterfeiters use a variety of strategies, such as cutting a newspaper from the time of the counterfeit author or use an old frame and possibly an old canvas; however, in their production, they use new paint, which does not match the palette used by the author in his time; this example explains why scientific analysis is extremely important to authenticate a work of art, the only way to attribute a work of an author who did not catalog their works or is not alive to certify the authenticity of their pieces.
As one famous researcher put it: "All proofs of originality made to a work of art must be 100% compatible with each other, since if one fails, all the others have no validity."
Once I saw with my colleague Leonel Duran a drawing of Picasso at an auction in Caracas, that drawing was far from the mastery of the artist, however, it was dedicated to a certain person in order to guarantee authenticity; another trick that counterfeiters can use to get their job done.
As I said, the counterfeiters are very cunning, so in the face of doubt of authenticity, is very important scientific analysis to guarantee 100% originality of the work.
In my particular case, when they send me a photograph of my work, I demand rigorously, to see it personally to give a verdict.
The only person, who can certify without ambiguity of the authenticity of an artwork, is your author, therefore, any other person, can only conjecture about of authenticity that is why it is advisable and logical to appeal to scientific proof, which is objective and unintentional.
I quote below a case like this: A postcard-sized painting that was purchased as part of a batch for $46 in an auction, which was later stored in a drawer for a decade, has been identified as a work of John Constable, worth more than $390,000. Robin Darvell bought a cardboard box full of articles at an auction in Canterbury, south of England, more than 10 years ago; which included the small work - which represented a rural scene with trees, a bright blue sky and a meadow. Only a faint signature on the back of the golden frame alluded to its origin. But when Darvell gave the painting to his son Robert, he decided to study the history of the painting and find out who had painted it. Robert Darvell, 45 year old, director of a film marketing company, contacted counterfeit expert Curtis Dowling and undertook a year of research to analyze painting, canvas and the signature to help solve the mystery. Darvell and Dowling believe that Constable painted the work to give him his father-in-law. It is believed that it has never been exposed.
In 2012, the painting by Constable, "The Lock", became one of the most expensive British paintings ever sold, was paid for it $34.8 million at a Christie auction in London.
Foundations and heirs of artworks have been given the task of repelling the attempt of many possessors of artistic pieces to prove that they are original, wielding banal arguments and lacking in logical reasoning, such as request to photograph of it and make a decision unilaterally (It would be the same as a detective from his office solves a crime only with seeing a photo, without appearing to the place of the fact). What dark and perverse interests motivate them ... If that is the way to authenticate a work?