Wrong in the right way: Kenneth Goldsmith on why Picabia’s false Modernism feels so true

On the heels of a US election season riddled with cries of fake and rigged, it is worth remembering that certain Modern artists embraced those exact qualities as being more truthful than truth itself. None did this more so than Francis Picabia (1879-1953).From the outset, he was blatantly fraudulent. Reeking of unabashed insincerity, he cannibalised every -ism he encountered, chewed it up and joyfully spit it back into the faces of the establishment. David Bowie used to say that he wasnt really