Ivy Kurniawan
Untitled
Class of: 2022
Major: Illustration BFA
Medium: Journal entries, mixed media book
Faculty: Megan Healey and Rachel Urkowitz
Prompt: We were assigned to create an artist's journal in the point of view of a real-life artist who lived or is still alive. The journal had to include written entries focusing on a particular time in the artist's life. It also had to include artwork done by the artist, and original art done in the style of the artist.
Integrative Studio
Integrative Seminar
The artist I chose was Elmyr de Hory, a notorious art forger who lived from 1906 to 1976. He sold thousands of forged art to reputable art galleries all over the world, telling them that they were Picassos, Matisses, Modiglianis, Dufys, Renoirs, and more. I chose to do this artist because of my interest in forged art – in the reactions to them, people’s attitude towards them, and the value placed on them.
De Hory was someone who made up a lot of stories about his past, so I decided to build a character that was almost a stranger to himself. From the quotes that I could find from him, and the biography about him (Fake! by Clifford Irving), I built a character who was bitter and who hated the way the art world functioned – specifically, the value placed on famous art vs. non-famous art). From the book, I also researched his process and development, so in my journal, I showed him experimenting with different artists’ styles and wrote journal entries based on his life and beliefs. I did some renditions of his work and some that are my own, inspired by his own work or artists he was trying to copy (such as Matisse and Dufy).