For the last fifteen years, Petrit Abazi, the presenter, has handled, valued and authenticated thousands of works of art. In that time, he has detected dozens of paintings and sculptures which were presented to him as ‘authentic’ or ‘original’ examples by well-known artists but were probably not ‘the real McCoy.’ Identifying what is ‘real’ and what is ‘fake’ involves a number of tools including good pattern recognition skills, a photographic memory, meticulous research provenance (ownership history), a basic understanding of history and history of materials, a science lab (to check facts) and a little bit of luck (fortune favors the trained eye, to paraphrase Louis Pasteur).
Petrit Abazi is a Melbourne-based art historian, curator and valuer. He studied art history at the University of Trento, Italy and completed his MA degree in Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne. In 2004, Petrit and his father founded Abazi Art, an on-line commercial art gallery. During his sojourn in Italy, he curated five exhibitions on Australian Indigenous art and Italian Contemporary art. Petrit has also held positions in several auction houses including Sotheby’s, Menzies and Leonard Joel. His most recent post was ‘Head of Art and Research’ at Mossgreen – formerly Australia’s largest auction house. Find Petrit Abazi on Instagram (Pedro_pepsito) or Facebook (Pedro Pepsito).