Leonid Afremov Paintings

Bruce Papier

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Apr 25, 2011
Posts
1,063
We have gotten an abnormally large number of Leonid Afremov paintings in lately (like 10 or 12 in the last six months). I see where he died and his family is selling off his paintings at a heavy discount, but something doesn't seem right about these paintings. Firstly, if we have done that many in sleepy Fort Wayne, they must be selling hundreds if not thousands of these things. Secondly, the canvas they are on looks to be an awful lot like the canvas at lot of Chinese import art is painted on. Anybody know anything about this? It's not important. I'm just curious.
 
licensetosteal.jpg
 
It looks like it might be legal, but very deceiving. People think they are getting an original Leonid but they actually are not.
These are not painted by him. They are reproduced, using his techniques.
The “studio” at the end of the name means they are painted by someone in the “studio”

Then marked up to what original might have sold for and fake marked down.

It is a handmade copy.
 
Larry, that school of thought is much older than that. Forgeries, let's call them what they are, have been around for centuries. Modern technology, and in this case, well, OK I won't go there.
At any rate, bilking the buying public in the art realm is certainly nothing new.
 
Yiva, as a person who spent my first 10 working years with 2 Fortune 500 retailers, I disagree. There are specific laws (mostly state) that control this matter.

When I was with Montgomery Wards, sewing machines were on sale at a fantastic savings 49 weeks a year. For 2 weeks a year they were available for sale at their MSRP. My question at the time as an internal auditor was why and were any actually sold at the MSRP? They only had to sell one machine in a store or their catalog to establish this MSRP was the response from higher ups to stay legal.

Case in point, Michaels "SAVE" story has changed in states like New York after they lost a court case. They no longer have 50% all framing (everything) every week of the year. They rotate their selection for the 50% off story.

Terms such as "A VALUE OF", 'WAS", "COMPARE TO" and other terms are less problematic.

Note today that the big hardware chain HARBOR FREIGHT has changed their save story by comparing their price to a top of the line alternative such as MAKITA, SNAP-ON, TORO, etc.
 
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Jerome,
Not sure what you disagree with. I wasn’t talking about price, although I am well aware of the Michaels story and how they were sued in some states and lost.

This studio uses “today’s price”. I don’t think that is illegal. They are also all Leonid paintings. More or less. So the “unfair” competition rule is really not applicable here.

The studio is reproducing his originals, but still “hand painted”. Looks like Leonid himself set it up like that.
So I don’t think that is illegal. A bit unethical, for sure.
 
Just because an artist sets up a painting business doesn't mean that all things are up to proper scrutiny.
Case in point. https://afremov.com/calm-beauty-palette-knife-oil-painting-on-canvas-by-leonid-afremov-size-24-x30.html. This page lists a piece of art that states:

  • Signature

    Signed on the front and back
  • Certification
    COA provided
  • Size
    30"X24" (75cm x 60cm)
  • Medium
    Hand painted by Leonid Afremov
  • Materials
    Palette Knife, Oil Paint, Canvas
  • Catalog ID
    1131626
  • Location
    United States
  • Shipping
    Free worldwide
  • Sail Paintings
  • Sea Paintings
    • Today price: $249.00
  • Regular price: $700.00, you save $451.00

Promo ends in: 13:40:30
==================================================
This link is from the home page "Artworks created and signed by Leonid Afremov"

This is an obvious recreation (copy, gallery reproduction by worker elves) if you look at another button in the same box "Original Oil paintings" https://afremov.com/Original-Oil-Paintings/ Note the "Hand painted by Leonid Afremov" and a price far below (too good to be true) an average "original painting". I reality these are "Hand embellished" and not 100% from his hand.

https://afremov.com/original-oil-paintings.html Note this counterdiction of the pricing of pricing.

This second page that is selling the "Originals" is a givaway as to the SLICK IDEA OF A COUNTDOWN CLOCK under each image on every page.

IMHO, this entire business model is based on deception and or stretching the truth.



Note: this link to Amazon for his art https://www.amazon.com/Painting-Abstract-Handmade-painting-Afremov/dp/B07DCBX6RN?ref_=ast_sto_dp
 
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Sleazy no matter how you look at it. My question is how many of these things could he sell that he needed to have an army painting copies? Anything more than 19.95 seems like too much for this quality.
 
These "originals" probably originate in a workshop somewhere in Asia or another low-labour-cost country and are as genuine as the 6' x 4' "Mona Lisas" from China.
 
Because there have been no court cases on this matter does not make this activity a legal activity. The website is too small for most legal jurisdictions to bother with at the present time.
 
My brother-in-law worked at the Competition Bureau in Canada, the agency that prosecutes companies for offences like these, and he says the exact same thing: this operation is too small to generate any action.
 
Isn't this exactly what Peter Max has been doing for years and years?
 
The NYT article on Peter Max is shocking. At least, the Park West part is. The numbers being thrown around are even more incredulous.
 
According to the Internet Archive the Arfemov web site has been selling art claiming to be from his hand from at least 2010 onwards. Hundreds of different paintings From 2010 to 2014 as 'auctions' and from 2015 onwards as 140ish USD discounted 'only this many hours 'till the end' sales. At least 2015 onwards there's also 'original oil paintings' category of works - I wonder what the others the are. Now their Facebook ads tell - as his wife - that 'now that it has been this and this many months since Leonid Arfemov died' we have this sale of his art.

2010 site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20100412105342/http://www.afremov.com/
2015 site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20151205042622/http://afremov.com:80/home.php
 
According to the Internet Archive the Arfemov web site has been selling art claiming to be from his hand from at least 2010 onwards. Hundreds of different paintings From 2010 to 2014 as 'auctions' and from 2015 onwards as 140ish USD discounted 'only this many hours 'till the end' sales. At least 2015 onwards there's also 'original oil paintings' category of works - I wonder what the others the are. Now their Facebook ads tell - as his wife - that 'now that it has been this and this many months since Leonid Arfemov died' we have this sale of his art.

2010 site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20100412105342/http://www.afremov.com/
2015 site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20151205042622/http://afremov.com:80/home.php
Yup, I have seen those ads
 
We got another Afremov painting in yesterday. This one is sort of one level up from the ones we have gotten in the past. The canvas is better and this one actually says on the back it was painted by a certain artist just a few days ago. I also noticed the "Afremov" on the front has a registered trademark symbol next to it so it's no longer a proper name. It's just a trade name like Kleenex.

I have to admit I kind of admire the stones it takes to sell stuff like this and actually get a good price for it.
 
Got one yesterday. My assistant took the order, I wasn't at the shop fortunately. Sometimes I am
very direct.
 
Isn't this exactly what Peter Max has been doing for years and years?
Yes. And I have been seeing a lot of Peter Max lately, so they have upped their game to be penetrating into West Virginia.

And there is a long history of "studio artists" painting all or some of an artist's paintings. But this is on a whole new scale.

I find the language on this website to be highly deceptive. If some state attorney general went after them, they would probably prevail, but that is unlikely to happen. We are back to caveat emptor.
 
Just had one in today.
Husband brings it in for his wife. The painting only had about 3/4" of canvas beyond the paint so I told him I couldn't stretch it without losing some of the art.
So he calls the wife and we told her the problem and she said that's ok, go ahead and lose whatever you need to stretch it and frame it.
Must be one of those $149.99 pieces.
 
Just think of all the artists and craftspeople toiling in the salt mines for Dale Chihuly. Do they ever receive any attribution for their labors?

I dunno. Where do we draw the line between a photographer who finds and captures his images, selects the paper and does his own printing and the guy or gal who snaps the shutter and turns the whole thing over to their team?

And all that is bad enough without the original artist being DEAD. :(
 
This is an old story from my father.

My father, after graduating from high school went to Ford Trade School to become an engineer/architect. While in school he apprenticed with Albert Kahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kahn_(architect).

As told to me as a child, Mr. Kahn asked my father the following "What is the difference between an architect and draftsman"?
PAUSE
the answer
"The architect is the one with the client"!
 
That reminds me of what happened with Salavador Dali in his declining years. While he was bed-ridden
and didn't have all his mental faculties, his household staff had his sign 1000s of pieces of blank paper.
They were selling original Dalis for years after his death.
😕
 
The whole enterprise hinges on the fact that a great many people don't really appreciate the difference
between "hand-painted" and "original". A neighbour of mine once showed me a painting he bought in
a sale. Typical HK oil, snowy mountain - pine trees. Even the frame was a bit ratty. He was beaming with
pride having paid £50 for it.
The worse thing was he mentioned that it was "a nice investment" and "something to pass on to the grandchildren".
Knowing him fairly well I didn't disillusion him. Some people just don't get it. 😕
 
HK = Hong Kong 😊 A generic term for factory paintings. Most of them actually come from mainland China.
Some of these people are actually very skilful painters, but that doesn't make them artists.

81048725_2666090346800321_929717672050950144_o.jpg
 
Wow!!! Imagine being one of those "painters" in the middle of a row who suddenly has to pee!!
Worse than in a movie theater.
 
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