S K Kashyap, Daksha Fellow' 21 & Advocate, High Court of Kerala
Introduction
Art justifies and extols our existence, but there is a paradox at its heart, for as Picasso famously said, “Art is a lie that helps us realize the truth.1” Nevertheless a lucrative but less noble kind of deceit is very familiar in this day and age – Fraud in Art. The rise in art transactions globally has led to a commensurable growth of art law as a field of expertise and a rise in cultural heritage and art disputes.
Understandably, disputes related to art are of diverse nature and may involve not only multifarious private parties with multiple interests such as artists, art collectors, auction houses and art dealers but also public parties such as museums, universities and states. Moreover, the nature of art law disputes can be both contractual and non-contractual.
