You’ve Been Served: “Driven to Abstraction” (2019) + Q&A with the Director

This program is co-sponsored by the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and hosted by Pryor Cashman LLP, one of the law firms that represented a plaintiff against the Knoedler Gallery.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film director Daria Price, an award-winning filmmaker, and William Charron, Partner at Pryor Cashman LLP.

The Movie

Driven to Abstraction unravels a tale of greed and fraud––the $80 million forgery scandal that rocked the art world and brought down Knoedler, New York City’s oldest and most venerable gallery. Was the gallery’s esteemed director the victim of a con artist who showed up with an endless treasure trove of previously unseen abstract expressionist masterpieces? Or did she eventually suspect they were fakes, yet continue to sell them for many millions of dollars for fifteen years?

The film offers a new insight into the Knoedler demise through interviews with art historians, attorneys, and journalists, including Patricia Cohen, author and journalist for The New York Times, Eileen Kinsella, Senior Market Editor at Artnet News, and Irina Tarsis, Founder and Managing Director of the Center for Art Law.

Watch the Trailer and read the Center for Art Law’s summary of the legal history of the Knoedler Gallery.

Find out more at www.driventoabstractiondocumentary.com.

The Director

Daria Price works in both documentary and fiction films. Her first feature documentary Out On a Limb won Best Documentary at the 2013 Boston International Film Festival. Driven to Abstraction is her second feature documentary. Daria also wrote, produced, directed, and edited the award-winning Survival of the Fittest, a satirical mystery that lampoons America’s obsession with youth and beauty, featured on Comcast’s On Demand Cutting Edge series.

The Program

You’ve Been Served is a Center for Art Law series showcasing documentaries and feature films that jump-start conversations on art law topics. Past events include screenings of “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” “Finding Vivian Maier,” and “Portrait of Wally.” More information at www.itsartlaw.org.

This event is co-sponsored by the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (“EASL”), which has more than 1,700 members who represent varied creative interests, including some of the most popular issues being debated in Congress, heard by the courts, and reported on in the news. EASL provides substantive case law, forums for discussion and debate, and information-sharing in the EASL e-community. More information at www.nysba.org/EASLHomePage/