Draft:Fake Art Colony

The Fake Art Colony is a contemporary artist collective comprised of architects, artists, curators, designers, illustrators and machinists who gather monthly to reproduce works of art. Each artwork faked by this group is marked with an (x) so there is no possibility of confusing it with the original. There is no commercial aspect to the work, all pieces are created as gifts to the other members: "The FAKE ART COLONY enables each of its members to experience the daily effects of living with unobtainable works of art. An otherwise impossible quest, we will achieve this goal by recreating the desired art pieces for one another."

Members of the colony refer to one another as Fakers. The Fakers have reproduced pieces in a variety of formats including painting, photography, sculpture, and textiles.

History
The Fake Art Colony's founding event took place in Leggett, California, in 2016 Monthly gatherings typically take place in San Francisco or Marin county.

Artworks
Members of the group submit requests for artwork they would like to receive. Other members of the group create the artwork. Requests have included reproductions of art works by high profile artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys, Ellsworth Kelly, Egon Schiele, as well as contemporary artists such as Leonor Antunes, Natalie Jereminjenko, Martin Machado, Preta Wolzak, and others.

In order to learn the artist's technique, the Fakers typically attempt to recreate an artwork as close as possible to the original. Some requests, however, require interpretation because of their scale or complexity.

Exhibitions
In 2019, when the Lucca Ravioli company in San Francisco closed its doors after 94 years the Fake Art Colony reproduced the shop's iconic, hand-painted signs as a window installation and promotion for a local clothing boutique.

In 2017, the collective created an exhibit entitled "Have a Bad Day" in response to a class action lawsuit filed by Modern Appealing Clothing alleging unfair advantage by Ivanka Trump's clothing brand which shut down in 2018. The exhibit included reproductions and original art works based on voicemail messages received by the boutique's owners in protest against the lawsuit.