The Fake As More refers to the title of one of my favourite assigned readings in any art history class. Written by Cheryl Bernstein, the article is a review of an exhibition by artist Hank Herron, who according to Bernstein, mounted a show that replicated a series of past work by second-generation New York artist Frank Stella.

Arguing that Herron's work is really Stella- plus, Bernstein pushed that the fake really is more. The text itself required a Websters to get through (or rather www.dictionary.com ugh), and upon reading it, I felt I took too much on in the class. Well wasn't I feeling peachy when later I learned that the brilliant author wasn't actually Cheryl Bernstein and that Hank Herron was the name of some old famous baseball player. The real author was Carol Duncan and in developing a convoluted theory wrapped up in complicated language she had created an elaborate hoax that drew attention to issues surrounding art criticism and flipped the community up on its head. There was no Hank Herron (thank God) and apparently Duncan chose the name Cheryl Bernstein to align herself with the Jewish-New York-intellectual scene that dominated the 70s (think Woody Allen whining in Annie Hall)- clever touch!

Well, this blog hardly hopes to reach any Bernsteinian heights, but rather ruffle a few more feathers in the sometimes-stodgy, and inaccessible, art circles of Toronto.