Does the world-renowned universal artist André Heller have another, previously unknown “talent”, namely that of an art forger? A report in the weekly newspaper “Der Falter” makes exactly this allegation. The story told there has potential for a judicial sequel.
The chronology: André Heller met the American star artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1987 when Heller designed the “Luna Luna” amusement park for the city of Hamburg. Basquiat died a year later at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose.
“I wouldn’t have sold him”
After his death, Heller glued some sketches designed by Basquiat for the “Luna Luna” project to wooden strips, added red paint, pieces of a broomstick dyed black and nails, according to “Falter”. In this frame he placed a real portrait drawing (“Untitled”) of the artist. For a long time, the original picture and the forged frame hung in Heller’s living room.
In 2017, the Viennese gallery Wienerroither & Kohlbacher offered the drawing for two million US dollars and the fake frame for three million US dollars at the New York art fair Tefaf. A buyer was not found at the time. “I wouldn’t have sold him either,” says Heller now in the “Falter” interview. In the catalog at the time, the Basquiat expert Dieter Buchhart, referring to a conversation with Heller, confirmed the authenticity of the frame: “The artist created the voodoo altar in the presence of André Heller.”
Buchhart was correspondingly shocked to the “Falter”: “Then he lied to me. That’s unbelievable.” After all, oral history is an important source for a researcher, and the Heller version seemed credible to him because of the “Luna Luna” collaboration. In the end it was all about deceiving Buchhart, Heller now justifies himself: “Buchhart gave the impression that he was the best Basquiat expert on the planet. After he talked me and everyone else down with what he knew about Basquiat, came the day I wanted to test him.”
After all, the 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, according to “Falter” for 800,000 euros.
“No Certificate of Authenticity”
However, Heller wrote in the purchase contract at the time: “There is no certificate of authenticity.” While Heller’s lawyer emphasizes that the work was only sold as a frame with Basquiat drawings on it, middleman Shariat says: “The frame was from Basquiat. That’s what Heller said.” André Heller has since bought the frame back. For him, the matter is “a childish prank, a private fairy tale”. Heller rejects “large parts of the Falter article as decidedly untrue”. It is the presumption of innocence.
The original picture (without frame) is currently on display in the Albertina in Vienna.
Source: Nachrichten
