Fake Heiress Anna Delvey Is Showing Her Prison Art With Help Of Basquiat Forger
Netflix’s Inventing Anna logo displayed on a smartphone, held in front of a background showing actor Julia Garner, who played Anna Sorokin/Delvey in the series. Photo 242562421 © David Esser | Dreamstime.com
Anna Delvey, real name Anna Sorokin, may not have reached her dream of opening an ambitious arts center under her name, but she’s getting a headstart in launching her art career with the help of a former con artist, Alfredo Martinez.
Martinez, who served his time for selling forged Jean-Michel Basquiat artworks in 2002, found a kindred soul in Sorokin when he learned that the scammer, the infamous name that inspired Netflix’s Inventing Anna, was creating art from prison. “It got me right in the feels,” he said, according to the Art Newspaper.
So he partnered with Sorokin to host a popup art show at 176 Delancey Street on the Lower East Side on March 17. The exhibition, entitled Free Anna Delvey, will showcase up to five of Sorokin’s drawings, including one called Send Bitcoin that the fake socialite completed during her time in New York correctional facilities.
When he learned that Anna Sorokin was making art in prison, the artist and curator Alfredo Martinez knew he had found a partner in crime https://t.co/nclFRwtRqI
— The Art Newspaper (@TheArtNewspaper) March 17, 2022
The illustration envisions Sorokin with handcuffs dangling from her fingertips as she uses JPay, a payment system for people who are incarcerated. “Send Bitcoin,” a thought bubble reads. Martinez enlarged and colorized the work.
“I am working as her assistant,” he shared in a statement published by the Daily Beast.
“It’s a con artist-turned-artist… helping a fellow con artist make her debut in the art world from prison,” noted the popup’s co-curator Julia Morrison.
True to the exhibition’s name, 25% of sales made at the show will go into Sorokin’s legal fees.
The star of the show, unfortunately, won’t be able to make it at the popup. After being released from prison last month, she is now in the custody of US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement fighting deportation to Germany.
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[via The Art Newspaper and Daily Beast, images via various sources]
