A detail of Basquiat’s self-portrait, one of the counterfeit works seized at the Orlando Museum of Art. Author: CR
Submitted to the FBI, the 45-year-old Hollywood businessman admits that he participated in recreating the images
To fake the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988, and whose works of pop art and graffiti reached the auction for 75 million euros, it was enough for the man identified by the initials JF to devote half an hour to the largest and barely five minutes to the smallest. He made about thirty of them. There would be anecdotes if these paintings, including Basquiat’s alleged self-portrait, had not entered the art market, thanks to the skills of a Hollywood dealer, and ended up exhibited at the Orlando Art Museum (Florida, United States), promoted as “rare” and “never seen”. Every day, about 10,000 people paid the entrance fee to see the exhibition. Until the FBI arrived, seized the pictures and launched an investigation.
Last week, auctioneer Michael Barzman, a 45-year-old dealer in delinquent shops, pleaded guilty to participating in the counterfeiting of these pieces before the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of California. In his confession, he admitted that he had lied to the FBI about the origin of the crime and that “he and another man [J. F.] They created fakes. Barzman falsely confirmed the origin of the images,” the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
“JF spent no more than thirty minutes on each image and only five minutes on the others and then gave them to him to sell on eBay,” the plea agreement states. “Barzman and JF agreed that they would share the money they would earn from the sale of fake pictures. They made about twenty to thirty works of art, using a variety of materials to create colorful images on cardboard.”
Part of the trick was to create a story that speculators and collectors would believe. Barzman invented that Basquiat created them in 1982 and that they were found, missing, three decades later in a warehouse bought by the original owner, the creator of series such as MASH who died a long time ago. In his confession, Barzman “admitted that he attempted to create a false provenance or ownership history for the alleged Basquiats by stating in a notarized document that the fake paintings were found in a warehouse hired by a well-known screenwriter.”
a telltale sign
Charged with art fraud, Barzman pleaded guilty to the crime before federal authorities and provided the FBI with details of how the fake paintings were painted in 2012 “after hatching a scheme to advertise the works,” the prosecutor’s office said. Forgeries were sold and “entered the art market”. Of that series of quick sketches, 25 were in an exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art in February 2022, which was raided by the FBI four months later.
A recognized forger was always suspected. At a hearing in August of last year, he denied that he participated in the creation of those images, the authenticity of which was confirmed by experts such as the director of the museum in Orlando, Aaron DeGroft. A few months later he changed his version and admitted that they were not found in storage, but continued to claim that they were genuine. That’s when agents showed him the back of one of those seized drawings, made on cardboard: it had his name on a mailing label painted on it, prosecutors say. The story of the Basquiat forgery is coming to an end.
Source: La Vozde Galicia
I am David Miller, a highly experienced news reporter and author for 24 Instant News. I specialize in opinion pieces and have written extensively on current events, politics, social issues, and more. My writing has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC News. I strive to be fair-minded while also producing thought-provoking content that encourages readers to engage with the topics I discuss.
