Florida Man Purportedly Burns Frida Kahlo Drawing To Create NFTs ‘For Charity’
By Mikelle Leow, 29 Sep 2022
In the touchy world of non-fungible art, there’s the argument that the blockchain can preserve the pristine quality of works, especially classics like Michelangelos and Da Vincis.
But just how eternal can a masterpiece be if it were extinguished for the sake of the process?
A Florida-based businessman is under investigation by Mexican authorities after claiming to have burned an original Frida Kahlo drawing into dust during a stunt to symbolically convert it into a digital piece.
On July 30, Mexican-American tech entrepreneur and cryptocurrency creator Martin Mobarak invited a curated list of guests to his Miami mansion, where he privately debuted his Frida.NFT project.
The star of the show was a nine-by-six-inch ink and watercolor work by Kahlo, entitled Fantasmones Siniestros (or Sinister Ghosts), that the beloved Mexican artist created in her diary. “Here are the sinister ghosts,” she wrote on the page, which was decorated with creatures like a fish with a broom, and a duck.
Unfortunately, this description might be one of the last tangible remnants art collectors may have of the sketch as Mobarak had torched the supposed work over a martini glass and reduced it into ash. The ritual was performed at the businessman’s swimming pool alongside a mariachi band, a fire performer, and models in the presence of 200 guests.
By setting the art on fire, Mobarak had “permanently transitioned” it into 10,000 non-fungible tokens, each worth 3 ETH (about US$4,000). This means he intends to garner about US$40 million in NFT sales. The original drawing, according to him, was valued at “over U$10 million”—an amount that’s since been contested by experts.
The entrepreneur promises to donate some of the proceeds to nonprofits supporting survivors of domestic violence and children with autism, and Mexican cultural institutions like the Museo Frida Kahlo and Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Buyers will obtain a high-resolution copy showcasing the front and back of the sketch, along with animated versions optimized for digital picture frames or as projected images on the wall, as well as a copy of the certificate of authenticity.
Image via Frida.NFT
In spite of philanthropic justifications, the stunt has understandably been met with distaste. Mexico’s leading cultural authority, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, is now looking into the authenticity of the drawing as the “deliberate destruction of an artistic monument” is a crime in the eyes of Mexican federal law, according to a statement issued by officials.
If the artwork is legitimate, Mobarak would have violated a law.
The entrepreneur, however, tells VICE that he doesn’t view the sketch as being destroyed. Rather, he is “bringing it to the world” from a private collection.
The creator “has a vision to introduce Frida’s work into the metaverse and leverage her powerful likeness to bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers on a mission to merge the traditional art world with the digital art world’s expanding potential and immortalize humanities story,” defends Frida.NFT on its website. It likens this “transition” to “a Phoenix rising from its ashes.”
Mobarak claims that he purchased the actual sketch from a private collector in 2015, and that the work had been kept in a safe in the years leading up to the NFT drop. Art dealer Mary-Anne Martin, who sold the drawing twice, says she did not sell the work to Mobarak or had even heard of him until recently.
James Oles, a researcher in Latin American art at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, says it best, telling VICE that there’s no way of knowing if the sketch is real because Mobarak set it on fire. “Isn’t that convenient?”
[via VICE and The Art Newspaper, video and images via Frida.NFT]