I had to take extraordinary measures to attract attention.
Burning of a Frida Kahlo sketch.
A businessman is being looked into and could be charged after he burned a Frida Kahlo sketch to promote the selling of NFTs based on it. At a Miami party, Martin Mobarak destroyed the $10 million drawing from 1944 in a martini glass.
The Kahlo sketch, “Fantasmones Siniestros,” or “Sinister Ghosts,” is a 1944 crayon, pencil, and ink work that depicts a bizarre assemblage of monsters. It appears to have been destroyed at the Frida premiere party. NFT, which hopes to make $10,000 from the publicity stunt. According to the New York Times, the project has so far sold four NFTs.
In a video from the occasion, Mobarak is shown taking the photo out of its frame, putting it in a martini glass, and lighting it on fire while surrounded by absurdly high levels of security. A mariachi band starts playing the well-known Mexican tune “Cielito Lindo,” which is almost unbelievable. Some spectators applaud the performance.
There is some doubt regarding whether the burning drawing was real and whether even the web 3.0 crowd would pull off such a crude action.
Mobarak asserts that the drawing he burnt was genuine and claims to have purchased it in 2015. On the NFT website, there is a provenance and authenticity certificate attesting that this is the original. “How do they know I didn’t,” Mobarak asks of people who question if he actually burnt it.
Whether Mobarak actually burned an original Kahlo and thus committed a crime under federal law is currently being looked into by the Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature. Since 1984, Kahlo’s artwork has been protected by Mexican law as “artistic monuments,” and violating this protection might result in years in prison and a fine equal to the work’s worth.
The Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacan also released a statement denouncing the act and emphasizing that it was not given permission for an NFT to be produced despite owning the rights to all of Kahlo’s works. It referred to the prank as the “destruction of our country’s historic legacy” and claimed it had nothing to do with “the collector and his activities.”
Expert in Mexican and Latin American art and culture Gregorio Luke declared: “I believe this man needs to be jailed.”
The Frida.NFT project makes an effort to portray this deed as one of global goodwill. This noble deed was carried out in order to give hope to abused women, sick children, and other unfortunate people around the world.
According to Mobarak’s plan, he would sell 10,000 NFTs for three ETH each, or around $3,600 at the time of writing. This would theoretically raise $36 million. “I love Frida Kahlo. She went through a great deal of emotional, psychological, and spiritual suffering, Mobarak told the Miami Herald. “I’m utilizing that one little artwork to make something really great that she’d be proud of,” I said.
This idea of destroying actual goods in order to give a digital token some mystical legitimacy is one of the worst NFT trends. Damien Hirst recently capitalized on this notion because it has become so popular by creating the 10,000-piece Heni project in 2021. Purchasers had a year to decide whether to keep the original or have it destroyed and receive an NFT of the piece. 4,581 consumers opted for the NFT choice. “None of this matters” is the title of collection item number 17.
Additionally, the group “Burnt Banksy” performed a prank in 2021 by setting a Banksy painting on fire. This example had at least a hint of humor thanks to the Banksy piece, Morons, which showed art buyers at Christies in an auction room.
Nobody knows where this will go in the end. In order to sell NFTs that, it seems, no one wants, Mobarak has either played the art world like a fool or has actually destroyed a piece by one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Given the notoriety the stunt has received, it seems very clear that the Mexican government would seek to prosecute him for it if he had torched the genuine article. Meanwhile, the Kahlo Museum has a lengthy history of pursuing legal action against misuse of her work.
Mobarak said, “People might see it like I destroyed it. “I didn’t, though. I’m introducing it to the world in this way. I’m allowing everyone to view it. In my opinion, it serves the world better and makes a statement than simply remaining in a single person’s private collection.”