Original/Fake: Duo Finds Art That Looks Like The Real Thing (PHOTOS)

Would you recognize a piece of art if it hit you in the head or blocks your path? If you say no, then you're in luck! FAKE Art is a project by German artists Sandra Sperkhake and Dieter Hoppe, a duo that scavenges for art and things in places that ordinarily would go unnoticed.

For example, if they see a grouping of objects arranged a certain way, say a sculpture or an installation that looks like it would have been made by someone famous, they engage the object photographically or arrange it to look as if it was made by artist of renown.

Their project is very subjective and requires massive knowledge of art history, something the common man, outside of art school and a "Sister Wendy" re-run on PBS, does not have. A regular girl walking in the street wouldn't know a Jeff Koons if she tripped over one of the kitschy artist's work.  

That's where the Hoppe and Sperkhake comes in. Take the image above: It looks like a Mondrain but it isn't really. Its just a grouping of colors arranged geometrically, something Mondrain could have painted which, we guess, is the point of the duo's engagement.

When you boil it down, FAKE Art is just an exercise in free association and didacticism.

After the break, more things that look like a famous artist made it. Hat tip to Flavorpill.