The FBI raided a Florida artwork museum late final week and seized greater than two dozen work attributed to artist Jean-Michel Basquiat following questions on their authenticity.
Orlando Museum of Art spokeswoman Emilia Bourmas-Fry mentioned in a press release that they have been complying with a warrant from the FBI for entry to the ‘Heroes and Monsters’ exhibit, which is now within the authorities’s possession. She added that nobody on the museum’s employees has been arrested.
“It is important to note that we still have not been led to believe the Museum has been or is the subject of any investigation,” Bourmas-Fry mentioned. “We continue to see our involvement purely as a fact witness.”
According to a search warrant, federal artwork crimes investigators have been trying into the 25 work since shortly after their discovery in 2012. The controversy gained extra consideration shortly after the Orlando exhibit opened in February.
Basquiat, who lived and labored in New York City, discovered success within the Eighties as a part of the Neo-expressionism motion. The Orlando Museum of Art was the primary establishment to show items mentioned to have been present in an previous storage locker years after Basquiat’s 1988 loss of life from a drug overdose at age 27.
Questions concerning the artworks’ authenticity arose virtually instantly after their discovery. The paintings was purportedly made in 1982, however consultants have identified that the cardboard utilized in not less than one of many items included FedEx typeface that wasn’t used till 1994, about six years after Basquiat died, based on the warrant.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”