Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) director Aaron De Groft was apparently missing in action as FBI agents raided his museum. He has been on the lamb ever since. In a bold move of incompetence or malicious greed, he mounded an exhibit of 25 works that were claimed to be by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The authenticity of that work quickly came into question.
The New York Times reported on the shady provenance of the works with one painting done on Fed Ex cardboard with the company logo being done in a typeface created nine years after the artist’s death.
De Groft did nothing but defend the work citing the flimsy excuse of a poem as proof of authenticity. The misguided OMA board also defended the work noting OMA gift store sales had gone up.
In an email, De Groft threatened an academic (subsequently identified as University of Maryland art historian Jordana Moore Saggese) who was seeking to distance herself from a report she was commissioned to write assessing the authenticity of the works in Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. Venice Collection. Saggese, who was reportedly paid $60,000 for her report, requested that her name not be tied to the exhibition, De Groft wrote, “You want us to put out there you got $60 grand to write this? Ok then. Shut up. You took the money. Stop being holier than thou.” He added, “Do your academic thing and stay in your limited lane.”
The clueless board in an effort to protect their own asses fired De Groft on 28 June 2022. No one seems to be able to admit they dropped the ball and failed with this misguided show. The work had never been clearly authenticated. The board’s clear incompetence and complicity in what could be a criminal attempt to raise the value of fake art works means that if they have any morals, they will resign from the board. Orlando is now the laughing stock 0f the art world, internationally. More heads need to roll if this crippled institution is ever to recover. In a press release the board said that the museum is not under investigation, but the FBI is still investigating. The museum very well might face criminal liability.
On 24 June 2022, the FBI swooped in before the work could be shipped over seas. As the FBI investigation plays out we will get to see just how clueless or greedy OMA’s board and director were. Besides seizing the cardboard scribbles, they also seized “any and all” communications between the museum’s employees and the owners of the artworks “purported to be by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” including correspondence with experts regarding the artwork.
Did the Orlando Museum of Art commit fraud in an attempt to raise the value of forgeries? The work was slated to go on exhibit in Italy next. A week ago one of the owners of the work walked into the museum lobby hoping to walk away with five of the works on cardboard. You would have to think he hoped to sell the fakes for millions before the gauntlet fell.
The OMA Board:
Chair of the Board
Cynthia Brumback
Officers
Ted R. Brown
Carolyn Fennell
Patrick J. Knipe
Francine Newberg
Sibille Hart Pritchard
Winifred Sharp
Andrew Snyder
Robert Summers
Lance Walker Jr.
Michael Winn
Nancy Wolf
Trustees
Leslie Andreae (Ex Officio)
Shari Bartz
Dustin Becker
Caroline Blydenburgh
Jeffrey Blydenburgh (Ex Officio)
Kathy Cardwell
Allison Choate
Earl Crittenden Jr.
William Deuchler
Mark Elliott (Ex Officio)
Elizabeth Francetic (Ex Officio)
Chase Heavener
Joan Kennedy (Ex Officio)
Amelia McLeod
John Martinez
Zakir Odhwani
Jennifer O’Mara
Paul Perkins Jr.
Valeria Robinson-Baker
Daisy Staniszkis