The FBI raided a Florida artwork museum on Friday and seized more than two dozen paintings 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 had 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 workers 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 wanting into the 25 paintings since shortly after their discovery in 2012. The controversy gained more 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 The Orlando Museum of Art was the primary establishment to show items mentioned to have been present in an outdated storage locker years after Basquiat’s 1988 loss of life from a drug overdose at age 27.
Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service by way of Getty Images
Questions in regards to the artworks’ authenticity arose nearly instantly after their discovery. The art work was purportedly made in 1982, however specialists have identified that the cardboard utilized in at the very least one of many items included FedEx typeface that wasn’t used till 1994, about six years after Basquiat died, in keeping with the warrant. Also, tv author Thad Mumford, the proprietor of the storage locker the place the artwork was finally discovered, advised investigators that he had by no means owned any Basquiat artwork and that the items weren’t within the unit the final time he had visited. Mumford died in 2018.
Orlando Museum of Art director Aaron De Groft has repeatedly insisted that the artwork is authentic.
The exhibit was initially publicized to run via June 2023 in Orlando, however the museum later introduced it was ending subsequent week. Bourmas-Fry mentioned the artwork’s homeowners declined to increase the museum’s contract and had been planning to ship the works to Italy for exhibition.
“Based on my training and experience, I believe that the significantly advanced date of the international departure of the Mumford Collection from OMA is to avoid further scrutiny of the provenance and authenticity of the works by the public and law enforcement,” an FBI particular agent wrote within the warrant request.
No prison fees have been filed.