Latest news with #artfraud
CBC
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
How AI, robotics and late artist Morrisseau are helping fight art fraud
Social Sharing Famed Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau was browsing a Vancouver gallery with his longtime friend Cory Dingle around 1993 when a painting stopped them in their tracks. The pair asked who created it. The answer? "Norval Morrisseau." The trouble? The artist had never seen the work, let alone painted it. "We had a little chuckle and we left," Dingle recalled. "Then, I said, 'What do you want to do about this?' He said, 'You know, you can't police the world.'" Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was a self-taught, trailblazing artist known for his pictographic style and membership in the Indian Group of Seven. He was the first Indigenous artist to have his work shown in a contemporary gallery in Canada and now his paintings sell for millions. But the incident Dingle remembers proved to be an omen. At least 6,000 fake paintings have since been uncovered, costing Morrisseau's estate $100 million in losses. The phenomenon amounts to what police have called the biggest art fraud in world history. Canadian artist's estates thinking of leaving Canada, says Morisseau estate 2 years ago Finding fakes is time consuming work. It requires co-operation from galleries and private collectors, a trained, critical eye cast on anything purporting to be made by the late artist and the patience to keep pursuing justice through the court system. But now a new tool has emerged to help the battle: artificial intelligence. Bogged down by the enormity of the task at hand, Morrisseau's estate, which is run by Dingle, partnered with two art-loving professors to build software nicknamed "Norval AI" about three years ago. It can analyze art pieces and determine the probability that they're a genuine Morrisseau. "Because the fakes were so terrible ... we got to a point with our AI that it was so good at picking them out," Dingle said. "There was no problem." Yet the estate knew fakes were still out there. They were just getting harder to detect because court hearings were revealing the tell-tale signs of a fake Morrisseau — thinner paint lines, for example — which allowed fraudsters to make their works even more convincing. Enter Chloë Ryan. The then-engineering student loved making large-scale abstract paintings. Even though such works could sell for a decent amount, they often take weeks or months to create, narrowing the odds that she could make artistry a viable career. She could make prints of her pieces, but they just weren't the same because they lacked the texture of a real painting. The conundrum became a source of inspiration for Ryan, leading her to start tinkering with robots and paint on her Montreal balcony. She eventually developed Acrylic Robotics, a company that uses technology to paint pieces at the behest of an artist. The process starts with an artist painting with a stylus on a drawing table, which acts like a massive tablet. Amazon Web Services software analyzes and logs every movement, detecting millions of details in the piece, including the strokes, brush pressure, pigment and speed. "We like to think of AI as a powerful magnifying glass," said Patricia Nielsen, AWS Canada's head of digital transformation and AI. "It can detect those patterns and the anomalies that might be invisible to the human eye ... so art experts, historians, can dig in further." With that data, Acrylic's robotic arm can then paint a replica so precise, Ryan says it's indistinguishable from an original — exactly what Dingle needed to put Norval AI to the test. A mutual connection put him in touch with Ryan last August. Shortly after, they got to work. Because Morrisseau isn't alive to paint images on Ryan's tablet, Acrylic's robot (Dingle affectionately calls it Dodo) had a more complicated feat to accomplish. Dingle would send Ryan a hi-resolution image of one of Morrisseau's works. Acrylic Robotics would then have an artist learn about eccentricities of his style and paint the piece before Acrylic's robot would give it a try. Everything the robot painted was analyzed by the estate and Norval AI. The two sides have been going back and forth for about a year, picking out errors in the robot's execution and poring over new works. Early editions had several spots where both the estate and Norval AI could tell the robot had stopped a long stroke to pick up more paint — something uncharacteristic of Morrisseau. "If you look at one of our works randomly on the street, you wouldn't be able to say that's made by a robot, but we can't yet do all art under the sun because there's a lot of techniques that we haven't yet built in," Ryan said. "We can't use every tool in an artist's arsenal yet. If an artist is out here finger painting, obviously we can't do stuff like that." Concerns of harming artists Newer editions of the Morrisseaus are about 69 per cent accurate and expected to improve even more. But Dingle admits, "I have kind of been holding back on getting to 100 per cent." He's scared of developing anything too perfect before he and Acrylic Robotics have found a foolproof method for ensuring a Morrisseau recreation can't be passed off as the real thing. It's a concern Ryan shares. "The worst thing that could happen is that we release this without consultation with groups that have been harmed by art forgery and this technology is used against artists," she said. WATCH | Winnipeg Art Gallery painting part of Morrisseau fake investigation: Painting in Winnipeg Art Gallery collection part of investigation into Norval Morrisseau fakes 1 year ago A case investigators have called Canada's largest art fraud investigation has revealed one of thousands of paintings falsely attributed to renowned Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau was once on display in Winnipeg's biggest art gallery. They're currently exploring markings or other features that can be embedded in pieces to denote they're not originals. Once they settle on an ideal method, they'll have an avenue to disseminate recreations of Morrisseau's work — responsibly. While some might think that's the last thing an estate plagued by forgeries would want to do, Dingle sees it as a way to bring Morrisseau's work to the people who would value it most. "There's two schools named after Norval. There are healing institutions. There are academic institutions. There are remote Indigenous communities," said Dingle, sitting in front of a rarely-shown Morrisseau.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How AI, robotics and late artist Morrisseau are helping fight art fraud
Famed Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau was browsing a Vancouver gallery with his longtime friend Cory Dingle around 1993 when a painting stopped them in their tracks. The pair asked who created it. The answer? "Norval Morrisseau." The trouble? The artist had never seen the work, let alone painted it. "We had a little chuckle and we left," Dingle recalled. "Then, I said, 'What do you want to do about this?' He said, 'You know, you can't police the world.'" Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was a self-taught, trailblazing artist known for his pictographic style and membership in the Indian Group of Seven. He was the first Indigenous artist to have his work shown in a contemporary gallery in Canada and now his paintings sell for millions. But the incident Dingle remembers proved to be an omen. At least 6,000 fake paintings have since been uncovered, costing Morrisseau's estate $100 million in losses. The phenomenon amounts to what police have called the biggest art fraud in world history. Finding fakes is time consuming work. It requires co-operation from galleries and private collectors, a trained, critical eye cast on anything purporting to be made by the late artist and the patience to keep pursuing justice through the court system. But now a new tool has emerged to help the battle: artificial intelligence. Bogged down by the enormity of the task at hand, Morrisseau's estate, which is run by Dingle, partnered with two art-loving professors to build software nicknamed "Norval AI" about three years ago. It can analyze art pieces and determine the probability that they're a genuine Morrisseau. "Because the fakes were so terrible ... we got to a point with our AI that it was so good at picking them out," Dingle said. "There was no problem." Yet the estate knew fakes were still out there. They were just getting harder to detect because court hearings were revealing the tell-tale signs of a fake Morrisseau — thinner paint lines, for example — which allowed fraudsters to make their works even more convincing. Enter Chloë Ryan. The then-engineering student loved making large-scale abstract paintings. Even though such works could sell for a decent amount, they often take weeks or months to create, narrowing the odds that she could make artistry a viable career. She could make prints of her pieces, but they just weren't the same because they lacked the texture of a real painting. The conundrum became a source of inspiration for Ryan, leading her to start tinkering with robots and paint on her Montreal balcony. She eventually developed Acrylic Robotics, a company that uses technology to paint pieces at the behest of an artist. The process starts with an artist painting with a stylus on a drawing table, which acts like a massive tablet. Amazon Web Services software analyzes and logs every movement, detecting millions of details in the piece, including the strokes, brush pressure, pigment and speed. "We like to think of AI as a powerful magnifying glass," said Patricia Nielsen, AWS Canada's head of digital transformation and AI. "It can detect those patterns and the anomalies that might be invisible to the human eye ... so art experts, historians, can dig in further." With that data, Acrylic's robotic arm can then paint a replica so precise, Ryan says it's indistinguishable from an original — exactly what Dingle needed to put Norval AI to the test. A mutual connection put him in touch with Ryan last August. Shortly after, they got to work. Because Morrisseau isn't alive to paint images on Ryan's tablet, Acrylic's robot (Dingle affectionately calls it Dodo) had a more complicated feat to accomplish. Dingle would send Ryan a hi-resolution image of one of Morrisseau's works. Acrylic Robotics would then have an artist learn about eccentricities of his style and paint the piece before Acrylic's robot would give it a try. Everything the robot painted was analyzed by the estate and Norval AI. The two sides have been going back and forth for about a year, picking out errors in the robot's execution and poring over new works. Early editions had several spots where both the estate and Norval AI could tell the robot had stopped a long stroke to pick up more paint — something uncharacteristic of Morrisseau. "If you look at one of our works randomly on the street, you wouldn't be able to say that's made by a robot, but we can't yet do all art under the sun because there's a lot of techniques that we haven't yet built in," Ryan said. "We can't use every tool in an artist's arsenal yet. If an artist is out here finger painting, obviously we can't do stuff like that." Newer editions of the Morrisseaus are about 69 per cent accurate and expected to improve even more. But Dingle admits, "I have kind of been holding back on getting to 100 per cent." He's scared of developing anything too perfect before he and Acrylic Robotics have found a foolproof method for ensuring a Morrisseau recreation can't be passed off as the real thing. It's a concern Ryan shares. "The worst thing that could happen is that we release this without consultation with groups that have been harmed by art forgery and this technology is used against artists," she said. They're currently exploring markings or other features that can be embedded in pieces to denote they're not originals. Once they settle on an ideal method, they'll have an avenue to disseminate recreations of Morrisseau's work — responsibly. While some might think that's the last thing an estate plagued by forgeries would want to do, Dingle sees it as a way to bring Morrisseau's work to the people who would value it most. "There's two schools named after Norval. There are healing institutions. There are academic institutions. There are remote Indigenous communities," said Dingle, sitting in front of a rarely-shown Morrisseau. "They could never afford to buy this painting, to hang it in their halls, to have the healing and the lessons of it, so we need to be able to produce high level reproductions that bring the life of that painting to these places." This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Globe and Mail
03-07-2025
- Globe and Mail
Art dealer moved $450,000 worth of Morrisseau fakes, new court document reveals
An 84-year-old art dealer who pleaded guilty last week in a sprawling investigation into the distribution of counterfeit Norval Morrisseau artwork bought around 500 fakes for more than $450,000 and then distributed them across Canada, according to an agreed statement of facts released Wednesday. The document outlines his role in selling forgeries, while peeling back another layer of what investigators call the biggest case of art fraud in Canadian history, a major scheme that has tarnished the late Anishinaabe artist's legacy. The dealer, Jim White, was one of eight people arrested in March, 2023, as part of Project Totton, a years-long police investigation into two counterfeiting rings responsible for producing and selling between 4,500 and 6,000 fake Morrisseau works, according to officers. Two of the eight accused had previously pleaded guilty, and charges against at least one other have been withdrawn. Investigators had anticipated that Mr. White – along with two other defendants, David Bremner and Jeffrey Cowan – would go to trial. Last week, before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ont., Mr. White pleaded guilty to uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained by crime for the purpose of trafficking. 'We were quite taken aback when we were notified that there was a potential plea agreement in place for Jim White,' said Thunder Bay Police Inspector Jason Rybak, who co-led Project Totton. Once called Picasso of the North, Mr. Morrisseau died in 2007 having earned international renown. His work featured vibrant colours and depictions of people and animals outlined in thick black lines, a style that came to be called the Woodland School. First Nations leaders say Mr. Morrisseau's art has been instrumental in helping to explain their history. According to the agreed statement of facts, Mr. White began selling Morrisseau works in 1999. Back then, most of the works he distributed originated from one of the co-accused, David Voss, who last year admitted in court that he had counterfeited upwards of 1,500 works falsely attributed to Mr. Morrisseau. Mr. White admits no wrongdoing related to the Voss fakes. He tried to verify their authenticity by commissioning handwriting analyses, affidavits and other documents attesting to their provenance. In 2016, he turned to a new source of Morrisseaus: Mr. Cowan. He says he met Mr. Cowan and viewed a number of Morrisseaus that raised several 'red flags.' Despite carrying 1980s dates, they appeared to be 'newer' and the English signatures didn't conform with earlier Morrisseau signatures he'd seen. What's more, Mr. Cowan sold the art from his garage in St. Thomas, Ont., and only accepted cash or e-transfers. Mr. White states that he was told Mr. Cowan acquired the art from a deceased uncle as well as from a former lover of Mr. Morrisseau's. Despite harbouring suspicions that the works were forgeries, Mr. White 'purposely turned a blind eye' to anything that might undermine their legitimacy, the document states. Between 2016 and 2021, he made 44 trips to Mr. Cowan's home to buy more than 470 forgeries. Mr. White pegged total costs at more than $450,000. To hide the art's provenance, Mr. White enlisted an appraiser, Mr. Bremner, to create certificates that declared the Cowan paintings to be authentic. The allegations against Mr. Cowan and Mr. Bremner have not been tested in court. Mr. White would then sell or consign the forgeries to auctioneers and galleries across Canada that would, in turn, sell them to the public. His fortunes began to shift in 2019 with the release of There Are No Fakes, a documentary that identifies Mr. White and others as major forces behind a shadowy counterfeiting scheme. The police investigation began shortly after its release. In 2021, police executed a search warrant on Mr. White's home and seized 59 forgeries traced to Mr. Cowan, along with 114 prints of forgeries and numerous certificates of authenticity, many affixed with a stamp from the Morrisseau Family Foundation, an organization formed by Mr. Morrisseau's sons and daughter around the time of his 2007 death. Jonathan Sommer, a lawyer who has represented several unwitting buyers of Morrisseau fakes, said the appearance of a foundation stamp needs to be further explored. 'It's a positive step to have more information about how the fraud rolled out over time,' he said. 'But the larger story still has massive gaps.' Police also seized $30,700 from a floor safe, funds Mr. White admits are the proceeds of crime. Mr. White has declined through his lawyer to comment on the guilty plea. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 7.
CBC
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Sued for $1.45M by Calgary art gallery, Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. denies all claims
Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. is denying claims it defamed and breached a contract with an Alberta art gallery by implying its works could be fakes. In March, EA Studios (Jasper) Ltd., which operates out of Calgary, launched a lawsuit against Norval Morrisseau Estate alleging defamation and breach of contract. The claim was filed in Alberta's Superior Trial Court. Cory Dingle says he is the executive director of Morrisseau's estate. He has spoken out to media outlets, including CBC, about the profuse fraud of the late artist's work. The art market has been flooded with thousands of works falsely attributed to Morrisseau since the late 1990s, making it difficult to authenticate and sell his paintings. Considered by many to be the Mishomis, or grandfather, of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada, he was from Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation in northwestern Ontario and died in Toronto in 2007 at age 75. EA Studios gallery claims it had an agreement with Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd., represented by Dingle. The agreement included a requirement for EA Studios to promote Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. as the definitive source for authenticating Morrisseau's works, says the gallery in its lawsuit. Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. would reassure potential customers that the paintings they wanted to buy were authentic Morrisseau creations, and Dingle would get 10 per cent of any successful sale to clients he referred to the gallery, according to the statement of claim. The lawsuit claims Dingle did the exact opposite. Instead, it claims, Dingle implied EA Studios' Morrisseau paintings may be fakes, and suggested they purchase authentic works directly from himself and/or Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. None of the allegations have been proven in court. In a statement of defence filed May 20, Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. said it never made this agreement with the gallery. "As there was no agreement between [the] plaintiff and the defendants, no breach of any contract or agreement as alleged can or did occur," said the statement. It also denied Dingle knew the paintings in EA Studios' inventory were authentic or received directly from Morrisseau during his lifetime, contrary to the plaintiff's allegations. Gallery says it hired investigators to pose as buyers EA Studios is also suing Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. for defamation. The art gallery claims Dingle's statements to potential buyers implied the gallery "is, generally, an unethical organization of low moral character that sells inferior and possibly fake artworks that were obtained through an abusive, and possibly criminal, exploitation of a vulnerable Indigenous artist," according to the claim. According to the gallery, Dingle also claimed that he was the only source for purchasing authentic Morrisseau paintings, and that only he and the estate had a reliable catalogue of genuine works, the lawsuit alleges. EA studios said it hired two private investigators in October 2024 to pose as potential buyers interested in paintings in its inventory after becoming suspicious that Dingle was not holding up his end of the deal. It claims the private investigators had two calls with Dingle during which he made defamatory statements that undermined the gallery's credibility and reputation. Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. claims that Dingle spoke little or nothing about the gallery in October 2024, according to the written statement of defence. It also says Dingle didn't say anything defamatory to the private investigators posing as buyers. "In the event that Dingle provided defamatory statements to the private investigators, which is not admitted but specifically denied, the defendants state that there were no damages (economic or reputational) suffered by the plaintiff, as any such private investigators were not in the market to purchase a Morrisseau painting from the plaintiff," reads the statement. WATCH | in 2023, Cory Dingle said there are Canada has become a fake art 'dumping ground': 2 years ago Duration 0:59 EA Studios also argues Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. defamed it in a social media post that said "'the only authorized, legal prints of Norval's work on the market are those sold by the alleged estate.'" The gallery said this statement "implied that the many authentic prints being sold by the plaintiff, and others, are fraudulent." Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. counters that this was not defamation because it did not directly identify the gallery in its post. "As the estate holds the right of reproduction over all of Morrisseau's artwork, there can be nothing in the social media post which is even implicitly defamatory." Estate assets not all distributed: defence claim In its defence statement, Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. describes itself as "a corporation incorporated under the laws of British Columbia in order to more efficiently manage transactions on behalf of Morrisseau's estate." The assets of Morrisseau's estate have not been fully distributed yet, it says. Dingle was appointed as an agent of the estate by Gabor Vadas, a longtime friend of the artist, and Morrisseau's children, says the statement. "Dingle is also authorized to act on behalf of the estate in relation to certain business and operational matters." Corporate records show Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. has a registered office in Vancouver. The listed directors are Morrisseau's daughter, Lisa, and Vadas, who was adopted by Morrisseau in accordance with the artist's shamanistic traditions. Vadas was the executor and sole beneficiary of Morrisseau's will. The estate was later divided between Vadas and Morrisseau's children in an out-of-court settlement. "From Norval's death on, Vadas did very little, and nothing effective, to stop the production and circulation of the fraudulent works," says EA Studios in the statement of claim.
Globe and Mail
27-06-2025
- Globe and Mail
Ontario art dealer Jim White pleads guilty to selling forged Morrisseau artworks
An Ontario art dealer has pleaded guilty to his role in what investigators have called Canada's largest art fraud case, admitting he handled works falsely attributed to the late Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau. Jim White appeared before an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ont., on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained by crime for the purpose of trafficking. Through his lawyer, Emily Lam, he declined to comment after the proceeding. Mr. White was one of eight people charged in March, 2023, as part of a 2½-year art fraud investigation that would identify two distinct counterfeiting rings – one based in Thunder Bay, the other in Southern Ontario – responsible for faking thousands of Morrisseaus. Mr. White's precise role is unclear from available court records, but one of the co-accused, David Voss, identified Mr. White as a 'major distributor' of forgeries in court filings last year. Mr. Voss admitted to overseeing 'the production and distribution of thousands of forged artworks falsely attributed to Norval Morrisseau' and claimed that Mr. White 'consigned the forgeries to auction houses and galleries across Canada, where the forgeries were sold to unsuspecting members of the public.' Mr. Voss was handed a five-year prison sentence for his role. Mr. White's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 7. The Morrisseau investigation launched in 2020, shortly after Jason Rybak, a Thunder Bay Police homicide investigator, watched There Are No Fakes, a TVO documentary that identified many key players in the forgery scheme. McGill believes it has painting falsely attributed to acclaimed artist Norval Morrisseau after investigation Insp. Rybak partnered with the OPP to investigate the film's explosive allegations. In the documentary, Mr. White states that '100 per cent' of his business came from Morrisseaus and that he'd personally dealt with 189 works by the late painter. At one point in the documentary, Mr. White tells filmmaker Jamie Kastner, 'I have never seen a fake, have you?' Insp. Rybak said that statement makes the guilty plea all the more gratifying. 'He was a central figure in the documentary saying there were no fakes and today that has culminated in him admitting that paintings he had in his possession and that he sold were fake,' said Insp. Rybak on Wednesday. Lawyer Jonathan Sommer, who has defended unwitting buyers of Morrisseau fakes and tried in vain for years to get the police involved, said Mr. White played a significant role in denying that any forgeries existed. 'He's been very litigious in all of this,' said Mr. Sommer. 'His position always centred on the idea that there were no fakes.' Once called the Picasso of the North, Mr. Morrisseau died in 2007 having earned a reputation as one greatest artists in the country. His work featured depictions of people and animals in thick black lines, a style that came to be called the Woodland School. In the years before his death, Mr. Morrisseau identified dozens of counterfeit works. But buyers who tried to sue galleries for selling them suspect Morrisseaus ran into legal hurdles trying to prove a painting was a definitive fake. Barenaked Ladies band member Kevin Hearn was one of those plaintiffs. His lawsuit against the gallery that sold him a dubious Morrisseau forms the basis of the documentary. Mr. White intervened in that case. 'To hear [Mr. White] plead guilty to criminal offences is a watershed moment,' said Mr. Sommer, who represented Mr. Hearn. 'This is something we've been waiting on for a long time.'
