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Ok, so they know there are a bunch of them out there, "about 836,000".  Whew!  And I am supposed to believe all that authenticity is valid, right?

Ohhhh, let's move on: Here is the number one entry for the google search

http://www.artbusiness.com/certaut.html  A: To begin with, there is tremendous abuse in the "certificate of authenticity" or COA business, especially at online auctions, particularly on eBay. Unless a certificate of authenticity originates from and is signed by either the artist, the publisher of the art (in the case of limited editions), a confirmed dealer or agent of the artist (not a third party or reseller), or an acknowledged expert on the artist, that certificate is pretty much meaningless.

Whoa!  Hold your horses!  Look at that second sentence up there.  Did you see it?  It's in parenthesis.  It says, "in the case of limited editions".  No matter how "limited" that edition is, it's still nothing more than a copy of the original.  And it really doesn't matter whether you tack on a fancy name like "giclee" or you print off from your handy desktop Epson.  We've got people worried about certifying that copied art is authentic.  Is that not the biggest oxymoron of the day? 

So what does it all mean?  The human race is now reduced to printing off little pieces of paper to tack to the back of a reproduction (you may call it a fake if you like, much shorter, easier to say, unless you own one) to say it's AUTHENTIC.  Authentic what I ask?  An authentic piece of paper that's been through a computer?  Wow, I've got a few of those laying around the office.  Authentic signature of the artist maybe?  Wouldn't it be better to have the artist's signature on something real rather than a copy?  Maybe it's the little logo label that the gallery sticks on it that's authentic? That'll get you a long ways toward fame and fortune.

Folks, we need our heads examined.  When we are reduced to pretending that a piece of paper makes a reproduction real or valuable, well, surely there is something better waiting out there.  Go buy an ORIGINAL.  Real paint on real canvas.  Real paint on real paper.  Real pastels.  Real charcoal.  Real.

Oh, and have a lovely day too!

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio where the question has been asked:  What is art?  It must be definition day.

Is it easier to define what art ISN’T?  Perhaps.  Actually, probably.

1.  Art isn’t the thing you hang on your wall to match your sofa.

2.  Art isn’t the thing you hang on your wall, that you are sure your friends will approve of because they all have a copy hanging on their walls.

3.  And on that note, art isn’t a copy or reproduction of an original piece of art.

4.  Art isn’t something featuring the year’s top five “decorator colors”

5.  Art isn’t something made because you think somebody will buy it.

Actually, this is one of those times when I wish I was one of those people who made a file of all the inspirational quotes from great artists of the past and what they’ve said art is.  You know they knew because of what they left behind:  ART

And THAT makes me think of the time I saw VanGogh’s Starry Night at the Art Institute in Chicago.  The place was packed with other people all trying to see the paintings as well.  You were supposed to be polite, look at the painting, and move on.  Nope.  I was rude and I stopped.  For a long time I stopped, because the painting required me to look at it for a long time.  Art, Starry Night, most definitely is.  It makes your eyes not want to leave.  It makes you not want to leave.

But realistically, it doesn’t have to be Starry Night, or Luncheon Of The Boating Party, or Young Girl Writing to be art.  Feature this:  even you or I can make something “art”.  But it has to have at least a smidgeon of something that all three of those paintings I just mentioned have---it has to be INTERESTING.

Sure, maybe it matches your sofa and if it’s interesting then you can call it art.  It makes your eyes want to look because it’s interesting, not because it matches your sofa.  It makes you take another look because it interests you, it speaks to you, sofa color has nothing to do with that.

And maybe it does have five of the year’s top decorator colors, but forget that, it’s so interesting that you want to look at it all the time.  You walk out of your way for another chance to look at it because it interests you.  It's calling you because it's so interesting.  Yea!  You get to call it art!

Sorry, I can’t stop without one more qualifier: to be interesting, it’s got to be real.  And that’s two kinds of real to you.  Real as in honest-created-from-the-heart-real.  Something must inspire.  Yup, that rules out #5 on the list.  AND real as in original, not-a-copy, not-a-reproduction.  A poster of Starry Night I can leave.  Starry Night, the original made me want to stay.  And look some more.  Now that’s art.

Have a lovely day, and thanks for stopping by.  
 

Later, Cooper

ps.  See you at Metro Art Expo in downtown Des Moines, Iowa this weekend!