The Big Fake: “Driven to Abstraction”

James Kelly and Daria Price discuss one of the greatest scams in art history—the series of fakes that the famous Knoedler Gallery, which had been selling art for 165 years, passed on to their patrons. Was it an isolated incident? Or are there more con artists than we know? Price, the director of DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION, joins Kelly, one of the film’s key subjects and the owner of Santa Fe’s James Kelly Contemporary, in this conversation about the state of modern art in the age of paintings as commodities.

About the film: DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION unravels a mutating tale of self-delusion, greed, and fraud — the $80 million forgery scandal that rocked the art world and brought down Knoedler, New York City’s oldest and most venerable gallery. Was the gallery’s esteemed director the victim of a con artist who showed up with an endless treasure trove of previously unseen Abstract Expressionist masterpieces? Or did she eventually suspect they were fakes, yet continue to sell them for millions of dollars for 15 years? Whatever the truth, two women from very different worlds crossed paths in what would become the greatest hoax ever of Modern American Art.

Speakers

James Kelly operated the legendary Santa Fe gallery James Kelly Contemporary for 19 years in the Santa Fe Railyard. Prior, he was Director of the Laura Carpenter Gallery.

Daria Price works in both documentary and fiction films. Her film OUT ON A LIMB won “Best Documentary” at the 2013 Boston International Film Festival and has been screened around the world. Her award-winning SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, a satirical mystery that lampoons America’s obsession with youth and beauty, was featured on Comcast’s On Demand Cutting Edge series.

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The Board of Directors for the Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe (CCA) has voted to close the organization after serving the Santa Fe and northern New Mexico community on its forty-fourth year of operation. The decision was reached after careful consideration of options presented during its current strategic planning initiative.

“Closing a cherished, community organization like CCA is one of the most difficult decisions a board can make,” said David Muck, CCA Board Chair. “However, we simply couldn’t secure the level of individual donations required to achieve the high quality of programming and exhibitions envisioned by CCA’s professional staff and board of directors,” he continued.

Many nonprofits in the U.S. were hit hard by Covid and CCA is a good example. The CCA Cinema closed during Covid, and attendance was slow to resume, reflecting national downward trends in moviegoing post-Covid as reported in multiple news outlets, such as IndieWire and others. In 2023, the organization forecast the cinema to perform at only 50% of pre-Covid levels, resulting in monthly losses. Though grants and individual donations to the organization were up significantly in 2022 and 2023, they simply weren’t enough to make up the difference in the annual budget and cover both current and planned exhibitions and operations.

“This tough decision did not come lightly,” said Danyelle Means, CCA Executive Director and Head Curator. “For a nonprofit institution that operates independently of state support, the annual donations needed to sustainably continue operating was not enough, especially in the wake of challenges from pandemic closures and reduced attendance,” Means continued.

CCA did have its share of recent successes: CCA Executive Director Danyelle Means had secured a three-year grant of $100,000 per year from the Ford Foundation, with an option to renew for another three-year period. The organization was also the recipient of a $50,000 inaugural grant from Ruth Arts Foundation, as well as other granting organizations. Self-Determined, a 2022 CCA exhibition, was listed as one of the world’s Top 50 Exhibitions of 2022 by Hyperallergic magazine and CCA’s new monthly Closer Looks cinema series was a hit with film enthusiasts.

The CCA board of directors considered closing the organization in December of 2021, but voted to remain open in 2022 in hopes of a recovery post-Covid. However, despite the hard work of CCA staff and the accomplishments like the ones mentioned above, the shuttered period during which the cinema was closed proved too challenging to overcome. CCA Cinema’s final day of public operations is Thursday, April 6, and all upcoming CCA gallery exhibitions and public programs are cancelled.