André Heller’s – as he put it himself – “childish joke”, in which he announced and sold a homemade frame as one made by Jean-Michel Basquiat, could now have legal ramifications. Because now the prosecutor’s office is devoted to the case. An initial suspicion is being investigated, it said.
Based on an anonymous report to the Public Prosecution Service and an overview of the facts from the police, the case is now being investigated, the judiciary confirms to the “Standaard”. Because fraud is an official crime that must be investigated by the authorities. In the Heller case, there would be serious fraud, from an amount of 300,000 euros there is even a chance of a prison sentence of one to ten years.
Alleged Basquiat frame sold
Heller met the star artist Basquiat in 1987 during his art project “Luna Luna” which he designed for Hamburg. After Basquiat’s death in 1988, the Viennese all-round artist pasted some of his sketches he had made for the project onto wooden strips, added red paint, black broomstick and nails – and the sculptural, so-called Basquiat frame was completed. Heller hung an actual 1983 portrait of Basquiat entitled “Untitled” which he acquired in 1990 in New York.
Heller’s graphics and framing duo was eventually put up for sale by esteemed Viennese gallery Wienerroither & Kohlbacher at the Tefaf art fair in New York in 2017 for $2 million for the drawing and $3 million for the fake frame. No buyer was found at the time. “I wouldn’t have sold it either,” Heller said in the “Falter” interview.
Nevertheless, the Basquiat-Heller combo soon changed hands. Viennese artist manager Amir Shariat first bought the drawing for a customer, while the frame went back to Heller – until the customer bought the fake frame in 2018 – for 800,000 euros. Heller has since bought back the frame, but the whole story leaves a musty aftertaste. Now the judiciary will be concerned with how criminally relevant Heller’s “childish joke” will be.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
