Art and Craft (2014)

That the art world is a special subculture won’t surprise anyone. For outsiders it is sometimes hard to understand why a specific painting or object is so loved or why the story about who made it is just as important (for example see the documentary My Kid Could Paint That) as what you are seeing. Various documentaries have been made who look critically at the art world, like F for Fake and Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Recently The Art of the Steal showed that art is, just like any other business, all about money. Getting a highly valued piece of art in your collection is important, because it will be the reason for people to visit your museum. The subject of this documentary, Mark Landis, uses that knowledge. What this forger did was copying famous paintings and then, after telling a story about a deceased loved one leaving it to him or pretending to be a priest, donate it to a museum. It is something he had been doing for decades and without knowing, over 60 museums were displaying his work. He seemed to be able to keep doing this, until he met Matthew Leininger, who worked for a museum in Cincinatti.

The most surprising this about Landis is that has never been arrested for his forgeries, because he has never asked money for them. In this film you get to know him a bit better. With his soft voice and almost absent look in his eyes het tells about his childhood, how he got interested in copying art, the role his mother played (who, although deceased, he still talks about a lot) and a long list of mental issues he’s dealing with. He shows how easily he forges well-known pieces of art. Despite the fact that he now has been discovered he, almost compulsively, keeps giving forged paintings away.

The film also shows the other side of the coin in the form of Matthew Leiniger, who has become obsessed by Landis. His obsession resulted in him losing his job at the museum and as a stay-at-home dad he tries to discover which works of art might have been made by Landis. He constantly seems to show pictures of Landis to his daughter of the forger asking her who that man is. It’s obvious he is frustrated by the fact that Landis keeps doing what he does and can’t seem to be stopped. When the two meet you can sense that frustration, something he doesn’t seem able to control.

By telling these two stories directors Cullman/Grausman and Becker paint a great pictures of two very different people, but also about the art world itself. Why is a work of art worth millions if it can easily be remade by another person? It is easy to compare it to something like the protection of a brand. If it is a good copy, hardly distinguishable from the real thing it depreciates the original. In the art world that could mean less visitors. It makes you wonder if in that case it is still about the art itself or simply about the money that can be made off of it.