Art is whatever people think it is, and what people think it is depends an awful lot on context: For example, whether the work is being displayed in an art museum by a dapper bloke in glasses and a vest, or whether it's sitting alongside other copies of the exact same print in an IKEA, with a listed price of €10.

Lifehunters, the Dutch pranksters who previously tricked a bunch of foodies into raving about new, organic cuisine that turned out to be McDonald's, "placed an IKEA painting in a museum and told art experts it was from the famous IKE-Andrews. Would they notice?"

Nah.

Nobody noticed at all. People viewing the print speculated about its symbolism and the intent of famous artist "Ike Andrews," who they've (of course) heard of, and estimated the work's value at many, many times its retail cost.

"If I could buy this for 2.5 million euro, I'd do it," one of them said. Certainly, IKEA would be happy to hear that.

The trick isn't as clever as it seems at first, though. The piece Lifehunters chose was a work IKEA commissioned from legit Swiss street artists NEVERCREW. Six figures is still probably pushing it, but their original work is certainly in demand.

All the other "Ike Andrews" works that Lifehunters showed their victims are just the usual stuff you'll find in the ready-to-hang section of your local IKEA labyrinth, though.

[h/t Daily Mail]