Welcome Back, Basquiat; Missing Art Reappears in NYC
An $8 million, uh, painting called "Hannibal" by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been located in an Upper East Side warehouse after apparently being smuggled out of Brazil a few years ago.
"Hannibal's" last known owner was a dude named Edemar Ferreira, the former owner of Banco Santos and one of Brazil's largest art collectors. His bank went bankrupt in September 2005, leaving behind debts of over $1 billion. I guess now he wants to hock "Hannibal" since he's in prison?
Edemar was convicted on charges including money laundering and bank fraud. He was ordered to begin serving a 21-year sentence in December 2006.
A Brazilian court ordered the seizure of $20 million to $30 million worth of art, saying Ferreira, his relatives and associates had bought the works with proceeds of illegal schemes. HOLLA!
But "Hannibal" went missing... Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnn.
"A courier had brought the painting from London into the U.S. via JFK in August. No mention of the work's celebrated creator was made and the painting was valued at merely $100 on customs declaration forms." Yeah, well taxes are a bitch. Who the F is gonna put down "value $8M" ?!
Meanwhile the above Hannibal was a Carthaginian military commander who is credited as one of the finest commanders in history. He lived during a period of tension in the Mediterranean, when Rome established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. His most famous achievement was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants!, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy. Shit was cold, son.
6 comments:
By the way, the image that you apparently are referencing as 'Hannibal' is, in fact, Untitled (Skull) 1981. It is also, in fact, a "uh, painting" that is owned by the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles. FYI, Basquiat was considered one of the great modern artists of the 20th century, with his work hanging in most of the great modern art museums around the world. Your obvious disdain for the work illustrates your uh, buffoonish ignorance.
Dear Buffoonish,
You're, uh, making assumptions. You're, uh, quick to be a snark.
I realise that image is not of Hannibal. You're, uh, criticising me based on your, uh, assumptions, dood.
And yes, I realise Basquiat was considered one of the great modern artists of the 20th century, that doesn't mean my 2 year old niece couldn't still give him a run for his homeless, Andy Warhol groomed, heroin money.
But dood, you started it...
I didn't "start" anything.
You ASSUMED I didn't know what I was talking about.
Gotta love Anonymous snarks!
Wait a minnit.....
from anonymous 2:
[1] anonymous 1 was correct about image being from Eli Broad's collection. The real "Hannibal" has an orange background.
[2] however, "most of the great modern art museums around the world" do not, in fact, have basquiat paintings in their collections. they just wish they did. example: MOMA has just 3 drawings. check their website.
[3] if your 2 year old niece is really producing basquiats, MOMA will want to know.
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