Today, Explained - The case of the fake Basquiats

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

Art crime is booming and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s paintings (or at least some very realistic forgeries) are the loot du jour. Reporter Brett Sokol and a guy who used to forge Basquiats explain. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, fact-checked by Matt Collette, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram, who also edited. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A screenwriter forgets to pay the bill for his storage facility in Los Angeles. The contents are auctioned off. Keepsakes from a life in television, a love of baseball, and 25 artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat. But are they real? If only someone would authenticate them. Enter the Orlando Museum of Art. They dedicate an entire show to the never-before-seen Basquiats,

and the FBI enters the museum and seizes every last one of them. They literally took them down off the walls of the gallery they were hanging in and hauled them away. I'm Sean Ramos-Furham. The case of the fake Basquiat's. Ahead on Today Explained. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points.

Visit superstore.ca to get started. Today, today explained. Today explained. Basquiat is one of the most famous and arguably one of the most significant artists to emerge from the downtown New York art scene of the 1980s. Brett Sokol is a contributing writer on art and culture for the New York Times. He's based in Miami, Florida. He's also really the poster child for art stardom. I don't want to call his success overnight, but pretty close to it.

He starts really showing his work in some prominent group shows in 1980. And by 1982, his star is really on the rise to the point where people are trying to kill each other over getting a hold of his work. And by the end of the 80s, he is a bona fide art star. Basquiat who's credited as the first to bring street art to fine art. And his importance within the art world and also the accompanying prices for his work have only soared in the decades since. Up until May Basquiat held the record for an American artist at auction. Auction records shattered at Sethady's Thursday with the $110.5 million sale of this painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat. He was only knocked down to number two by Andy Warhol. And they're still sort of jockeying back and forth for the pole positions there.

But another painting of Basquiat's did sell this past May for $85 million. Not an amount to scoff at. There is a lot of money at stake in the Basquiat market. And not just for his paintings. There is a mania for anything associated with Basquiat, whether it's a commercial for Tiffany's with Jay-Z in it with a Basquiat painting behind him. And Jay-Z is dressed up to look like one of the iconic looks of Basquiat or whether it's in the form of $29.99 t-shirts that you can get at The Gap with Basquiat's work on it. There's just a huge clamoring for all things Basquiat and it keeps growing month to month, year to year. And maybe this kind of explains why someone might want to fake a Basquiat. Yes, there is a lot of money at stake here. And certainly we're speaking theoretically here.

If you were an art forger and you were trying to forge some artwork that you could sell for a lot of money, Basquiat would be a very good candidate for that. And this brings us to Orlando. So set the scene for me. What exactly happened in Florida? So most dramatically, on Friday, June 24th, over a dozen FBI agents from the FBI's art crime team raided the Orlando Museum of Art. They came in through the front door, showed a search warrant, and went into the museum's marquee exhibition of paintings by Basquiat, or at least paintings which the museum said were by Basquiat. Is it a Basquiat or Basquiat? FBI investigators are looking into whether 25 Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings that were on display at the Orlando Museum of Art and insured at more than $82 million were forged.

The FBI agents literally took them down off the walls of the gallery they were hanging in and hauled them away back to presumably a storage warehouse. I think it's worth emphasizing this. An FBI raid of a museum show is not something that happens in art museums every day. It's quite the spectacle. And so it raises the question, how on earth did we get to that point? These are 25 paintings that were said by the museum's now former director, Aaron Negroft, as well as the owners of these artworks, to have been done by Basquiat, to have been painted back in 1982. They were supposedly all sold by Basquiat in 1982 directly to the late TV screenwriter Thad Mumford for about $5,000. The 25 artworks then disappeared

for three decades, again according to the museum, only resurfacing in 2012 after Mumford failed to pay the bill on his Los Angeles storage unit and its contents, the Basquiat paintings, as well as Mumford's own baseball memorabilia and TV industry ephemera. He was a producer and a writer on MASH. All of this was auctioned off, and it was eventually bought by its current owners for about $15,000. $15,000? They knew that they were Basquiat's and they were buying them for $15,000? As they explained this, they spotted what they saw was a diamond in the rough. Their names are William Force, Leo Mangan, and Pierce O'Donnell. They bought these artworks in 2012. The art went on display in the Orlando

Museum of Art this past February. They feature a lot of the iconic elements that you see in much of Basquiat's work from the early 80s. There are skulls, there are crowns, there are all kinds of the iconic visual markers that are familiar to people who've looked at Basquiat's work. But there are a lot of curators who were given pause in looking at them beyond just that they've seen those elements before. The way that they were arranged, the lack of an internal coherency, that troubled certain people who looked at them. But there are other art world experts who were hired by the artworks owners who did believe that they were indeed by Basquiat. I think it's very telling that they have not, up to this point, been able to sell the artworks. There is a silence that is deafening from certain corners

of the art world over the past real decade in terms of attempts to sell these works. One of the elements that raised a lot of red flags for people initially looking at these artworks, particularly with the curators at the Orlando Museum of Art when these artworks first arrived, was the cardboard that these paintings were done on. Again, Art when these artworks first arrived was the cardboard that these paintings were done on. Again, there's 25 artworks. They're all painted on slabs of cardboard. And if you flip one of those slabs of cardboard over, it appears to have been painted on a piece of Federal Express shipping material, like the boxes that people use to put stuff in and mail something via FedEx.

And there was a very, very clear imprint that said, place FedEx shipping label here. And it just didn't appear right. First of all, back in 1982, when these paintings were said to have been done by Basquiat, Federal Express did not use the phrase FedEx. They wrote out the full Federal Express. They didn't use the actual shorthand of FedEx until later. The curators, there were just a number of elements that seemed wrong, that seemed off. And that's why they brought this to the attention of the director and said, something doesn't seem right here. So, some ten years after these three guys stumble upon this gold mine, someone finally agrees to show them in a credible museum.

Is there a big opening night party kind of thing? Very much so. There was a big VIP opening this past February at the museum. Thousands of people turned up. It really was a celebratory moment, both for the museum and I think for Orlando at large. People were really happy that this show was there in Orlando. That work that was said to be by Basquiat was being shown in Orlando and not in, say, New York or L.A. or Chicago. It was a moment that made a lot of people there very happy, and I think a lot of those folks are particularly upset right now. They feel like they were used, like their trust was abused. At what point does the FBI take an interest in this art show? This is part of why a lot of people are very disturbed

by how this story has unfolded. The FBI subpoenaed the museum for all of its internal records concerning these Basquiat's long before the show even opened. all their communications with the artwork's owners, as well as the various art world experts who the owners had hired to try to authenticate them, as well as all the records from the board of directors. The FBI, we now know, has been following these artworks for a long time, almost a decade. I think it's also worth noting here that in the affidavit filed by the FBI as part of getting their search warrant to seize these paintings. The FBI has revealed that they spoke with Thad Mumford, and Thad Mumford told them that he never met Basquiat back in 1982, that he never bought paintings from Basquiat. He certainly didn't put paintings by Basquiat into his storage unit, that that part of the story, at least according to him, is false. What happens after they're seized? The board of directors of the museum met on the Tuesday after that Friday, June 24th raid,

and they decided to dismiss the director, Aaron DeGroff, from his position. This still raises a lot of questions. The director in this case wasn't acting as some kind of rogue agent. He had the approval of the board of directors. In fact, the chairwoman of the board spoke in his public defense again and again as questions were being raised about these artworks and about this exhibition. He had the backing of the board. And so people are saying, why did it take FBI agents raiding the museum for the board to finally really do something here? So it doesn't sound like the director of the museum's going to face any charges for this, but what about the owners of the artwork, William Forrest, Leo Mangan, Pierce O'Donnell? The FBI has said that they do have evidence that the owners of these artworks did appear to know that they were inauthentic and also that they were accepting money. They were selling off essentially investments, shares in these artworks for $35,000 a pop.

Criminal charges have not been filed and we'll just have to see what the FBI's next move is. This Basquiat incident in Orlando feels like almost a cinematic version of art crime. But how big a problem is art crime? Forgery of artwork is a huge problem, not just in the United States, but around the world. And there's a huge amount of money involved in it. It's part of the reason why the FBI has an art crime team. When millions and millions of dollars are at stake, that's something to be taken very seriously. I think what's important to note here is that this story isn't just about possible fraud. It's not just about a possible art crime. That's certainly a headline-grabbing aspect of it, but this is

really also a story about accountability, about the accountability of art museums to the public, and also about the accountability of art museums to artists, to an artist's legacy. I think if these paintings do in fact turn out to be absolutely inauthentic, it really does a grave disservice to the cultural legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat. That was Brett Sokol, arts reporter in Miami. When we're back, we're going to hear from a guy who knew Basquiat and then took up forging Basquiat's and went to prison for it. It's Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura. Aura believes that sharing pictures is a great way to keep up with family.

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I'm the new Jean-Michel Surrounded by warhawks, my whole team ball any agreement with iGaming Ontario. It ain't hard to tell. I'm the new Jean-Michel. Surrounded by wall halls, my whole team ball. Today explained, to better understand why people forge Basquiat's, we thought there'd be no better person to ask

than a former Basquiat forger. Alfredo Martinez, notorious Basquiat forger. Allegedly. And unlike your run-of-the-mill Basquiat forgers, Alfredo actually knew Jean-Michel. Just from the scene, he was out a lot.

He's hard to miss. I mean, the art world's rather monochromatic, and there's not a lot of Black people in it. I asked Alfredo what kind of art he was making back in Basquiat's heyday. This is kind of embarrassing to say. I was not interested in making artwork until after I started making four drinks.

As he tells the story, back in the 80s, Alfredo was working at a gallery in New York City. A woman he knew had a fling with Basquiat, and sometime later, she came over to Alfredo's with some original Basquiat drawings rolled up in tube. She grabbed the tube with drawings. I looked at them. It's like, I can sell these.

But then I also realized I could start copying them. I'm in front of real ones. You have to know exactly what the real ones look like to make fake ones. And you have to be in the presence of the real ones. The photographs is not good enough. Tell me how you start making fake Basquiat's. Is it hard for you at first? Well, I add eggs to paper,

make the paper kind of f***ed up because he had a messy studio. There's always a little like slight stain or like footprint even. So you were doing these on paper? The first ones on watercolor. If I made them big, it's like stealing a city bus and trying to sell it on eBay. You make small drawings and it just slips on the radar. How do you go from making fake Basquiat's by yourself to selling them?

Well, my gallery would have art openings. And I remember my boss said, oh, don't talk to that guy. He's one of the sleaziest art dealers in town. So obviously I made a beeline for him to try to unload these Basquiat's. So does this become a career for you, making fake Basquiat? Intermittently when I'm broke. How much do you sell them for? I sell them to art dealers.

So I took out a persona of someone who didn't know what they were doing. So they always thought they were ripping me off. Oh. Like I had this Basquiat. I don't know how much it's worth. I'm just trying to sell it for a friend of mine. And how much would you get for it? I'd get like 10 grand.

So you were doing like 10 grand at a time? 10 grand here, 10 grand there? Yeah, five, 10 grand. Okay. Do you know how much money you ended up making in total off of fake Basquiats? I do not recall. I have no memory of any of this. But eventually you get in trouble for doing this. Well, you know, I sell two or three of these,

and it's enough to live on for a year. Why push it? But then I wanted to get out of the art world because a friend of mine, O.G., and I felt like the art world was like an Aztec cult that wanted a blood sacrifice every once in a while so i just wanted out so my plan was to like make a million dollars and move to the boonies like the philippines i was dealing with art dealer leo malca and he knew that my baskets were fake so

he talked me into like doing a business with him, just making fake Basquiat. The Basquiat committee with the father specifically, who would authenticate anything he gave him. If he paid him 10%, what he thought it would sell for. This is Jean-Michel's father? Yes. All right, just to reiterate here,

Alfredo's version of this story is that this big New York collector, Leo Malka, was knowingly buying fake Basquiat's and that Basquiat's own father was in on the scam. We reached out to Leo Malka's people today and they disputed Alfredo's account for what it's worth. You ever have a salt payer? Like someone owes you money and they take for paying? I can relate. This is like illegal business. It's like cash and carrot and he was stalling paying me so i'm like i'm not working working anymore and i started selling the other people and he got upset so he ended up calling the fbi the thing is if you call the FBI, the first thing you do is investigate you.

My lawyer said he set himself on fire to give me a slumber. So you both got in trouble? Well, when the FBI arrested me, they wanted me to turn evidence against him. But I refused to be a rat. Also, when they arrest you, they don't want to arrest you by yourself. They want to arrest you and anyone you knew even slightly. And I wasn't going to do that. I was trying to make fake documentation. So I had people helping me make that.

And I conveniently forgot who they were. I remember this one FBI agent. She starts asking me my aliases and I tell them Rufus T. Firefly, Otis P. Driftwood. These are like the character names from Groucho Marx.

Because if I got a trial, what would happen? They would go Alfredo Martinez, alias Otis P. Driftwood. It's like be hilarious. Did you go to trial? Yes. What were you charged with?

Mail fraud. Mail fraud? Yeah. Not Basquiat fraud? Well, that involves costly investigation to prove. They could prove the mail fraud, so that's what they got me for. Oh, because you were lying about having Basquiats in the mail. Yeah. Nice thing is a cop

friend of mine had warned me that I was under investigation. So I wasn't really super surprised I was arrested. Like a week earlier, I had gone to a lawyer. I told him what I was doing and I asked him how much time I would do. And he estimated, well, it's your first offense being arrested for anything. It's like not a violent crime. And it's offense, I'd probably get one to three years. And I got 21 months right in the middle there. And I was 36 at the time. And I had been making 4Gs since I was 18 years old.

So it's like I've been doing this half my natural life at this point. You know, Alfredo, when I look at a Basquiat, I see something striking, original, complex, and it makes me wonder why forge a Basquiat? Why not forge like a Rothko or a Mondrian, which would in theory be a lot easier? Well, people have done that, but most people who forge work, they forge their contemporaries because it's easier to get the material.

Otherwise, you have to artificially age things. I remember I was trying to fake a Jackson Pollock, and the paint he uses, they don't make anymore. Like he used industrial machinery paint. Back in the 40ss when you paint machinery you want not to rust and also they would color coat things in factories color coat different machinery so you want to paint a boiler or a milling machine it would be this industrial blue industrial red and that's you know you ever see like that kind of like super enamel hardest

titanium paint that they paint this stuff on? It's like oil and grease. It laughs at anything that tries to stain it. You just wipe it off with a wet rag and it's fine. So this is the kind of paint that Pollock used in his paintings because it's cheap paint. You could buy it by the gallon at the hardware store. What kind of materials does Basquiat use

that makes his stuff easier to forge? You can buy them at the art supply store. What kind of materials does Basquiat use that makes his stuff easier to forge? You can buy them at the art supply store. That's why they still make all that stuff. I mean, the stupidest thing is making these Basquiat on cardboard with any kind of markings at all that can be traced. It's so stupid. It's like if I was making large fake Basquiat, I'd go to flea markets, dig around for old materials to paint on. I wouldn't use stuff from now. It's just stupid. Did you know that art crime has become the third highest grossing criminal trade in the world?

Doesn't surprise me because art crime is also used to launder money. I could right now take three real Basquiat's, put them in a nice portfolio case, get out and play in Zurich, Switzerland. Customs here wouldn't give me any problem for leaving the country with three real Basquiat's. The drawings would just be 30 by 20 would be worth like a hundred grand each at least, maybe half a million each it's basically like carrying bear bonds they'll stay look cuter in your wall right now i could take a million dollars in literally blood stained money and go to any gallery and ask can i buy some artwork with this money they give me a discount for buying things in cash. You can't do that with diamonds. You can't do that with cars or houses. There's a paper trail. It's really kind of funny.

I realized after I got arrested that it was kind of like an open secret what I was doing. It's just people were just thought it was funny and they liked who I was doing it to. Like there was this one big art dealer I showed my boss to, not to sell it to him, just to tell him, oh, what do you thought? And he thought, it's a good one. Who are you selling it to? Oh, I'm selling it to Leo Malka. Oh, good. And he just smiled at me.

And when he talked with the FBI, he just said, I am shocked, shocked, afraid I was involved in any kind of forgery. And this is a big art dealer and curator. It's like, now I repay him the favor by staying at least 500 feet away from him. Alfredo Martinez, former Basquiat forger, allegedly now he's just a regular artist. He even has a piece in MoMA's collection in New York City, where he also lives. Our episode today was produced by Abishai Artsy, fact-checked by Victoria Dominguez, engineered by Paul Mounsey,

and edited by Sean Ramos-Furham. This is Today Explained.