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My Art Haven

Three artworks for my living room, if money and space were no object – with Tagsmart Chairman, Tom Toumazis MBE

At Tagsmart, we spend all day talking about authenticity and provenance in the art world. We have developed a technology to create an undeniable truth between the artist, the artwork and the collector. We have the pleasure of working in a unique industry where an average of 36 million works of art are sold globally every year, and in which hundreds of thousands of artists create an innumerable number of new pieces every day. We have the opportunity to work alongside some of the world’s finest, including Marc Quinn, Idris Khan and Mario Testino, and to experience part of the journey of their amazing works of art.

But which works do we love the most? Which artwork leaves that lasting impression, touches us in some special way? And, if money and space were no objects, which one would we have in your home? More specifically, in your living room; that sacred place where your trackies and that faded, torn t-shirt are always welcome, where you can slouch and unapologetically binge on episodes of First Dates and The Queen. The living room where you can relax and become the person you really are. Your safe haven, away from the challenges of the outside world. The place where you can chill and watch Netflix (literally!) and where the people you love come together.

So, what if money and space were no object and my living room was a Tardis filled up with my favourite three artworks? A desert island disks for art, if you will, but not on a desert island and without the complete works of Shakespeare thrown in.

I suggested to the Tagsmart team I would take the first stab at this, but now I have to admit to actually finding it a rather challenging task! Still, after putting off writing this piece for a few weeks, here are my three favourites:

1. Jackson Pollock’s Convergence (1952)

I suspect many people would pick something from Jackson Pollock. There is something timeless to his work, something about the mystery of what it says as well as the way in which Pollock says it. I have always imagined him working with a cigarette in his mouth, crouched over a canvas, with that broody look on his face. There is confidence and power to the scale of this painting, which can only be really appreciated in person. Pollock was the first of his kind, but he didn’t care; this is an artist representing free speech and freedom of expression in the post-war period. Pollock threw paint in the face of convention and rebelled against the constraints of society's oppression. This work would even dwarf my big Samsung TV, but I don’t care!

2. Richard Serra’s Band (2006)

My second piece, by the father of all contemporary sculptors is something that you can only experience by walking into it. At twelve feet high and more than seventy feet long, Richard Serra’s Band is titanic in weight and size and appears to be invincible in its mass and volume. I first saw this astonishing work at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2007. The steel walls look like they are about to tip over, but the ingenuity of Serra’s work really lies in the design of each portion. Are you getting a sense of that?

Although this must be a very large living room, let's bring things back to normality with my last piece, which I'm proud to say I already own!

3. Visual Aid for Band Aid (1985)

How can I go from these two monumental classics to a collection of postcard size works donated by 104 artists for The Band Aid Charitable Trust? Well, this was the first artwork my wife and I bought. It reminds me so much of the time of the 1980s and our journey as a newly married couple. This was our step up from Athena posters – remember those?! – to an authentic, genuine work of art. The piece is also signed by all the artists, including David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, Michael Craig-Martin, Patrick Heron and Patrick Caulfield. I recall buying the work through an ad in the Sunday Times, no clicking on a website or basket integration back then. We cut out the page in the magazine and sent a cheque with the hope we would be one of the lucky ones to get our hands on it. It will always take pride of place in my living room. It even trumped a Jeff Koons, an Ed Ruscha and a John Baldessari. But who said I couldn’t swap them every so often?!

This is my art haven. What is yours?

Tagsmart is honoured to introduce its Advisory Board comprising some of the world’s leading experts in the fields of arts and science. Its purpose is to assist Tagsmart in meeting its mission by sharing insights and knowledge on the art market needs and trends, as well as contributing to the latest scientific developments and applicable research.

We are proud to be supported by Dr Matthew Baker, Mike Triggs, Dr Carinna Parraman, Professor John Watts, Dr Melanie Bailey, Graham Bignell, Professor Bill Redman-White, Joanne Wilson, Aino-Leena Grapin, Amy Todd Middleton, Colette Loll and Mike Adam and grateful for their crucial insights and distinctive expert advice.

This dedicated trusted group of individuals shapes our business and is vital to our performance and engagement, ensuring our overall success in establishing a new standard for authenticity in art.

For more information, please visit www.tagsmart.com/about-us.

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Shortly after coming under the hammer for US$102,000 during a charitable auction in Ho Chi Minh City last week, Hanoi Old Quarter, a painting claimed to be by famous Vietnamese late painter Bui Xuan Phai has been called out as a counterfeit work.

Phai’s son Bui Thanh Phuong was among the most vocal accusers, saying his father had never painted such a work. “There are only five or six art collectors in Vietnam, so who is keeping whose paintings is a shared knowledge. There is no way a painting by my father that nobody including me has ever heard of just appears out of nowhere,” Phuong claimed.

Bui Quoc Chi, owner of Duc Minh Gallery which had put the painting up for auction, affirmed that the painting was authentic. “I will take full responsibility before the organisers [of the auction],” Chi said.

Despite Chi’s reassurance, many Vietnamese artists have weighed in their opinion on the matter with suspicion.“It does not take Bui Thanh Phuong’s words to know that the painting is a fake, as anybody who has decent knowledge in the field can tell apart the differences,” painter Nguyen Thanh Binh commented.

Binh’s comment was echoed by many other experts in the field, as they all found the painting lacking a sense of Phai-ness.

Their suspicion is founded, as Phai is perhaps the most copied artist in Vietnam, to the point that there’s a saying among insiders that goes “Phai paints more when he’s dead than alive”.