NFT enthusiasts are known for making questionable choices without putting in a lot of thought. Having said that, a blockchain businessman has hosted an extravagant event where he burned what he claimed was a genuine Frida Kahlo drawing estimated to be worth some $10 million.
The flamboyant event was covered in a video in July. Several of the people in the audience were cheering behind a Mariachi band. Then the host and apparent owner of the Kahlo drawing Martin Mobarak was seen to be setting the precious artwork on fire.
The defiling of a work belonging to Mexico’s most important artists, titled Fantasmones Siniestros, was done in service of minting 10,000 NFTs for Mobarak’s Frida.NFT company.
However, the result has not been very satisfactory. So far, only four have been sold, The New York Times reports.
Mobarak in a statement described the NFT collection “like a Phoenix rising from its ashes” and that the “piece will be transformed to live eternally in the digital realm.”
The truth behind the claims of burning the genuine piece is still under question. It was discovered that Kahlo’s drawing was sold to a private collector in 2013, whose identity has not been revealed. The seller, Mary-Anne Martin, told Vice in September that she had no idea who Mobarak was until recently, and denied selling it to him. Meanwhile, Mobarak maintained to Vice that he bought the Kahlo in 2015, also from an undisclosed private collector.
This led to the Mexican authorities investigating the matter as it could be a “crime in terms of the federal law on archaeological, artistic and historical monuments and zones,” Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature said in a September statement, as quoted by NYT.
And Mobarak could face legal repercussions if he is proven to be faking the claims, according to Leila Amineddoleh, an art, and cultural heritage lawyer.
“If he did actually burn it, he is breaking one law,” she said to NYT. “And if he didn’t, if it was a reproduction, then he might have violated copyright law. And if he copied the original with an intent to deceive, it could be fraud.”
“I think this man should be put in jail,” a former Mexican diplomat told the paper.
