Ancient Medusa mosaics uncovered // Fake Basquiat paintings // Celebrity-curated exhibits the future? // Man trapped in big, shiny balls

Hello everyone, welcome back to By Amara. This is a weekly news show where I discuss contemporary events in the art and history fields. I'm your host and personal curator, Amara Andrew.

The format for the show that I typically follow but just don't, so I should probably just give up on that by now, is one traditionally used by Western brides, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. This week, we're going to be talking about ancient Medusa mosaics, fake Basquiats in a museum, celebrity curated exhibits, are they a thing of the future?

And a man trapped in big, shiny balls. All that and more coming up on this episode of By Amara, let's get to it.

Well, hello, and welcome to another episode of By Amara. This is episode 29. I am recording this very late in the day.

It's actually 7:00 p.m. Right now, the day before I'm supposed to be releasing this. It's just been like crazy, like.

But good crazy, not bad crazy, but I don't know, anyway, blah, blah, blah. Hello, welcome to the show as always. How are you doing this week?

I hope you've had a lovely week so far. It is Tuesday, so I guess you're not that far in the week, but you can do whatever you'd like. I don't really have too many updates, also.

The weather here in Chicago finally does not suck, so the sun was out today. If you are watching this on YouTube, you can see that I'm actually a little burnt. I tip- I never used to burn, but then I moved here to Chicago, and there's like no sunlight for most of the year, so I burn quite easily now, which kind of sucks, but anyway, it was very nice to sit out in the sun.

You'll, you'll be able to tell I'm a little sun-baked in this. I don't have my, my normal peppy energy, and because it's night time, I'm like ready to go to bed by now. Not really, but you know what I mean.

But yeah, the sun is out, it makes me feel so happy, and it's just nice and warm, I'm finally not freezing my ass off, so I don't know, I'm, I'm feeling happy, I'm feeling upbeat. Everything for my business MAVEN is crazy busy, I am very, very happy and fortunate, though, that I get to work with such awesome people, and it just, I don't know, it just makes my life easier, so.

Anywho, just very busy. I also finally just, finished booking our travel in the next couple weeks. We're going to my best friend from high school's bachelorette party.

I never expected that she would get married. We kind of had like a pact in a way, not like a blood pact, but just a pact that we wouldn't get married, and then here she is getting married, no, it's totally fine. But yeah, so we're actually going to be going back to my homeland Arizona for that, and I'm really excited.

I haven't been back there in 12 years now, just because I was so busy with school, and then grad school, and just a variety of different things, and it kind of breaks my heart to go back a little bit, just for a variety of different reasons, so anyway, it's my own personal stuff that I have to deal with, so it'll be fun, though, I'm bringing Jeff with, also.

He's not coming to the bachelorette party, but he's going to be staying in a, in a place nearby, so I get to show him, basically, where I grew up, and show him all the fun stuff, and tell him all my stupid, old man stories, and I don't know, probably bore him to death for a week, but it'll be fun. It'll be very fun. I think that's all I have for updates, so without further ado, let's just get straight into the show.

I just realized I feel so nude wearing a tank top. I'm not nude, if you are listening to this. However, I feel very on display right now.

I'm just wearing a tank top, but like, like I said, I think I sat out in the sun for too long, so my skin is just really hot right now. Not very good. Anywho, our first story, two ancient mosaics were found at the Villa of the Antonines in Italy that depict the Greek mythological figure, Medusa.

Archaeologists were excavating at this ancient villa, that was once used by Antonian rulers, hence the name, and these include Antonin- Antoninus I'm going to go with Antoninus, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus. Why am I struggling? It's all that sun.

The archaeologists who uncovered these murals believe that they likely date from the second century CE, which is important to note. Well, okay, so it's either important to note or we were able to tell that because Medusa was actually a really common, figure to depict in a lot of different decorative formats and things like that at this particular time in Ancient Rome.

So, archaeologists are able to deduce that these were probably created sometime around that time. And these mosaics measure 69 ft or 21 m in diameter. They're huge, and, in both depictions you see Medusa with her famous snakey hair and her icy stare that'll turn people into stone, but she's actually looking off into the distance, so she's not looking at the viewer.

So, that's really interesting that the artist or the benefactor who like commissioned this piece for these mosaics, rather, decided to have Medusa not looking at the viewer. So, I just thought that was a really interesting creative, choice. And these were also found in two niches that have been cut into the walls of a 69 ft circular room in the villa, so right now it's kind of believed that might have been a reception area for those who live there, and whether it's also kind of been debated whether or not it actually had a roof over it.

So, there's, there's still a lot to figure out. Researchers state that it was actually an unexpected, pleasant surprise that these mosaics existed. One reason is that because the villa's decorations were largely removed in the 18th and 19th centuries, but then also during World War II, the site was a strategic location that saw considerable movement of troops, so throughout the years, there are actually old photographs that you can see of the villa, as well, and a lot of it has just been decimated within the past 70, 100 years or so, so, it's still amazing that it even exists.

Oh, and it was also really interesting, some of the researchers said that they were actually finding World War II artifacts next to ancient artifacts, which I thought was really fascinating. It's just like, we're already at that stage where World War II artifacts are like buried underneath the ground. Just very brief story, so just to wrap it up, archaeologists state that they hope to turn the site into an archaeological park in the future, so maybe one day you will be walking through there, who knows?

On to the next.

So, this one is quite a humdinger, so get ready. There are a few different names, so I'm going to try to keep it as clear as possible, but it's a little wild. An LA auctioneer has pleaded guilty to helping create fake Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings that were displayed last year at the Orlando Museum of Art.

On June 24th, 2022, just days before the exhibition closed, so this exhibition was open February 2022 to June, late June 2022, so just days before it closed, the museum was raided by the FBI, who then seized 25 paintings that had been hanging in the exhibit titled, Heroes and Monsters, and it was all Basquiat paintings, it, it appears.

In court documents, a man named Michael Barzman had admitted to helping create between 20 to 30 fake artworks and then marketing them for sale as real Basquiats. This is when it gets a little silly. Prosecutors also said that Barzman was working closely with another man who's only identified by the initials, J.

F., so J. Period F. Period.

Barzman claims that J. F. Took the lead in creating most of these artworks, with Barzman only spending maybe 5 to 30 minutes on an artwork, which, in my mind, it doesn't matter, you're creating forged artworks and like, that's also just a bunch of bullshit, like you clearly had more to do with this than you're letting on, but I digress, I am not, not the judge, jury, or executioner.

See you be dead, no. So, Barzman, in addition to these paintings, also created false provenance for the paintings. So, Barzman actually had an auction house, I believe it was just called the Michael Barzman Auction, something like that, it was so simple.

So, he had an auction house where he was able to that kind of helped lend credence to his story, and here's why. His auction business was involved with purchasing and reselling the contents of unpaid storage units, so he could just say, "Oh, I found this in this storage unit," which is exactly what he did. He had created some false provenance for these paintings because people obviously want to know where this came from, especially now cuz provenance is a really big issue.

The story that he fabricated was that these paintings were created in 1982 and were sold for $5,000 to an now-deceased television screenwriter named Thad Mumford. They then, allegedly according to Barzman in this made-up story, stated that they disappeared from view for a few decades and then, in 2012, they were found within the storage unit that was just missing, essentially.

And Barzman, also to even further support this, created false documents. The story's like a little PC because this is still an ongoing investigation, but it looks like Barzman sold the artworks then to several buyers from his auction house, apparently, allegedly, that might not be right, but that's kind of what I've found.

And then, these artworks eventually ended up at the Orlando Museum on exhibit. So, what's weird, though, too, is that the actual authenticity of these artworks was called into question during the exhibition. The exhibition, like I said, opened February 2022, and shortly thereafter, just like a couple days after, it looked like, article was written in The New York Times where a reporter was questioning whether or not these were real Basquiat works.

The article noted that one of the artworks was painted on the back of a cardboard shipping box bearing an imprinted instruction to, quote, "align top of FedEx shipping label here," but this was done in a typeface that FedEx hadn't been using until 1994. Basquiat died, I believe 6 early 6 years before that. I think Basquiat died in 1988, I believe.

FBI Investigation Into Fake Basquiat Art

So, already, that should be a red flag, but in it was published in this New York Times article, so also because of that, then that helped get eyes on these paintings and be like, "Okay, what the hell is going on here?" So, by May 2022, so just a few months after this article was written, the FBI's art crime team was already investigating the authenticity of the painting.

Apparently, a few years earlier, a special agent of the FBI had actually interviewed Mumford. So, Thad Mumford, the guy who allegedly had these in a storage unit according to Barzman, the guy who owns the auction house and who was selling these and made these fake, paintings. So, Mumford was interviewed by the FBI, and he said that he had never purchased any of these artworks.

So, this, this case goes way back, this goes back further than it seemed. Mumford also stated that he was pressured to sign documents, which he did not, but he was pressured to sign them, stating that he owned the collection, was, was even offered a cut of the proceeds by Barzman and J. F., which I'm very curious who this J.

F. Is. Mumford then signed an affidavit in 2017 shortly before he died, stating that, quote, "At no time in the 1980s or at any other time did I meet with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and at no time did I acquire or purchase any paintings by him," end quote.

So, that's kind of where the investigation is at so far. It's just a very odd story. There have been a lot of art forgery and art theft kind of stories lately, which is really I don't know, it's just really interesting.

It's also interesting, too, because in the parallel to the art market booming right now is I don't know, I just find it fascinating. So then, you might also be asking, "Well, what happened to the people at the museum? Didn't the director notice that this was a shit ton of fake, fucking artworks?" The former director and chief executive of the Orlando Museum, Aaron De Groft, mounted the exhibition and, when it was being installed, people were still being like, "Are you sure these are authentic?

Are you sure these are real?" And he defended that, allegedly, according to what I read, he defended that the artworks were actually real and legitimate, which is very silly to me, but I guess when your job is on the line, you're like, "Yeah, they're real, like shut up, don't ask questions." So, he was removed from his role shortly after the FBI raid of the exhibit.

He hasn't been implicated in any wrongdoing as of yet, but the museum is obviously very not happy with how this all went. Like I said, still ongoing, as soon as I know more updates, I will let you know. Now on to our next story.

So, I was wondering if I should even talk about this just because I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this particular story, and not good, not bad, just, I've a lot of thoughts, I guess. So, we'll just get right into it. Comedian Hannah Gadsby is curating an exhibit and it's supposed to open this summer.

It's called, "It's Pablo-matic." And this year is going to be, I think it's the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death. So, a lot of different exhibits and things, and books and whatever the fuck are being released this year to commemorate it. And why Hannah Gadsby?

In 2018, Hannah released a special called, "Nanette," where they just discuss how terrible and horrible Picasso is and was. Picasso was extremely misogynistic. This exhibit is going to be at the Brooklyn Museum and it's going to feature 100 artworks, many of them done by female artists or women artists or people who identify as female or women.

Some of the female artists include, Mickalene Thomas, Käthe Kollwitz, Ana Mendieta, and Marilyn Minter, among many other names. So, in the description, the exhibit is intended to look at, quote, "the artist's complicated legacy through a critical, contemporary, and feminist lens, even as it acknowledges his work's transformative power and lasting influence," end quote.

It seems to me the whole kind of premise of the exhibit is not to like, cancel Picasso, necessarily, but it's not to celebrate Picasso as this mythical figure of perfection in art history and everything. Like I said, though, I am very torn on this, and nothing against Hannah at all, like I love their comedy, but I struggle just with the idea, and again, not directed at Hannah at all, this is just, I can see this turning into something that I'm afraid of happening where you might start having celebrity-curated exhibitions, and that's not bad, and I know that they have happened already before, but if that becomes a normal thing, like how every celebrity right now has a brand of tequila or alcohol or whatever, and nobody really did 20 years ago, I think I'm just worried what this means for people who want to be in the art history or the museum profession, cuz already it's extremely, extremely competitive, like you have no fucking idea if you're not in it.

It is a very, very, very, very, very competitive market, and I know you can say that about any job market, but I mean, in a in a space where funding is very limited, there are only like five jobs, like it's very competitive, and for people who go to school for years and study these things for years, and would love to be a curator and make these exhibits, but who don't really get a chance to do that, I do think it's unfortunate then, having people who have celebrity, who can then have these opportunities.

Debating the Future of Celebrity Curated Exhibits

And it's great, like Hannah has worked very hard to have their platform and everything, and they should get to do cool things like this, but I can just see how it's going to become a trend. Like, fucking Kourtney Kardashian also has an art history degree, Hannah Gadsby has an art history degree, that's why I'm saying that.

But Kourtney Kardashian also does, so then in the future, we can have Kourtney Kardashian curated exhibits, and again, no shade to her. I just feel like this helps the institution, because they have a celebrity-backed and celebrity-curated exhibition, so it's kind of like those blockbuster exhibitions that you have now, where it's like, "Oh my god, look at all the Van Goghs, or look at all the Vermeers," and you have those specific names that are very well-known in the art historical field, or even just by people who just are laypeople, I'm using that term, I don't mean it derogatory, but just people who are not within the field, they know those names.

If you hear Hannah Gadsby, like I personally am very curious to see how this goes, and it's not just Hannah curating everything by themselves, it's them with a couple different other co-curators at the Brooklyn Museum, but see, the focus is on Hannah being the curator of this exhibit, not on the artists who are making the work, the other co-curators, which typically it's not about the curators for the exhibit, rather, it's about the pieces within it.

I just feel like that emphasis isn't being placed on the objects themselves, but on, "Oh, my god, we have this, like, celebrity comic who made this whole speech joke thing about Picasso." And I think it's a really, obviously, valid point, because, yeah, most men throughout history have been fucking misogynists, and still are.

It just happens. I mean, you should see my comments by some men, it's fucking ridiculous. But I digress, I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about this.

I just, I really, really, really want the emphasis to be placed because these are important works that are going to be shown, like, looking at this through a critical, feminist lens. That's amazing. Like, I am so into that.

But I'm just afraid that the messaging might not be getting across as well, and I don't know. Like I said, this probably won't even make it into the podcast, but it's just something I was thinking about. I didn't really have much to say about it, but I just want to make sure this doesn't become the next like, tequila brand, where everybody and their mother who is famous and is a celebrity has a tequila, or this, or that.

It's like, it's influencer marketing without really getting quite there. I'm just I don't know. I But then it goes into, well, how are museums going to survive in the future, and do you need Ugh, whatever.

I'm really glad I'm not a curator or even a director cuz that would be a lot to figure out, so anyway, this may or may not make it in the episode, and if it does, just those are my two cents. That's just where I'm at right now, and again, Hannah, if you for some God-forsaken reason hear this, no shade at all, like genuinely, like you are amazing.

Yeah, I just it's just something that I've seen firsthand of how complicated and difficult it is to break into the field, and like I never got to be a curator, obviously, because it takes you years to get to that. I just I don't know. Anyway, it could just be me being salty, so I should just leave this here, and let's get on to our final story.

I did it again where I went to go look up at the camera to see if it was still recording and then I realized I'm looking at you, so if you're watching this, I was looking at you, so I had to smile and it just got really weird right there, so I'm so sorry. Anywho, let us end on a very silly, stupid note. A man was arrested this past week after he was trapped within a public art sculpture, and not just any sculpture, big, shiny balls.

So, in Edmonton, which is in Alberta, Canada, there's a public art piece called, "The Talus Dome," and it's basically just this large, it's like almost like a pyramid, it's kind of like a mound, but it's pyramid-shaped, where it's bigger on the bottom and smaller at the top, but it's not exactly a pyramid, and it's like consists of these large, silver, shiny spheres that are varying sizes, so like they look like they could be varying from like 6 in around to maybe almost a foot, I don't know.

Go look at photos or I'll have them up here for you to see. But, it's just all of these shiny, metal balls and they emerge from the ground and create this mound. The sculpture was create- could be wah, wah, wah.

The sculpture was constructed in either 2011 or 2012. I saw varying dates for the structure, which is really odd, and I couldn't find it on the actual website for the freaking people who made it, but whatever. So, it was either constructed in 2011 or 2012, and was created by Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues, I believe is how you say his last name, I'm so sorry, for around $600,000.

Apparently, what happened was this guy who is 26 years old, the news article really wanted you to know that it was a 20-something-year-old, cuz they're like, "Look, these young kids." So, this guy was apparently standing on this sculpture and he somehow fell in. I don't know, this literally just happened like a couple hours ago, so not a lot is like really known about it, but apparently, this guy was on top of it, fell in.

So, then, the firefighters and rescue team, there were like three different teams of people, so like firefighters, rescue team, and somebody else, maybe like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or whatever, they came to get this guy out of the sculpture, cuz apparently he was like freaking out and pacing back and forth. Another guy that just happened to be running by at this exact moment, obviously, saw some sort of a commotion going on, so he was like, "I need to see like what's happening." And apparently, he couldn't tell whether it was human or animal, cuz there were just like so many sounds.

The guy that just happened to be running by at this moment, he started recording on his phone and the video went viral, of course. And the runner, whose last name is Schwint, said that the person who was trapped inside the sculpture was, quote, "running around inside of it, starting to freak out because he couldn't get out," which I just have found really funny.

So, firefighters eventually were able to get him out, or like firefighters, rescue team, whoever it was, they were able to get him out. They had to remove one of the balls to get him out, so like most of the sculpture was kind of, not most of it, but a lot of the sculpture was kind of messed up then by this point. And apparently, it took over an hour to get him out.

The guy was charged with one count of mischief, which is a hilarious charge. So over $5,000, and then was released. He may have done Edmonton a favor, though, because apparently, this Talus Dome is very polarizing.

A lot of people really hated it, and I think only maybe like three people liked it, I don't know. Not, not a lot of people were appreciative of the public art, I will say, so I guess this guy may have done them a service, but I just thought it was a very silly, stupid thing. I just like the thought that this guy was freaking out in the sculpture, where it's like, you'll get out eventually, like even if you need a shovel to like dig through the earth or something, I don't know, I was like, just hang out for a minute, just admire the view, cuz you're one of like no other people who have gotten to sit inside this sculpture.

So, anywho, on that note, we will wrap up there. Thank you so much for listening. Like I always say, I genuinely appreciate you, if you are listening to this or watching this.

If you want to see my gnarly sunburn, you can head on over to YouTube and watch this on my YouTube channel, @AmaraAndrew, that's me, and like, subscribe, scribe. Write me a letter if you will. Yeah, like, subscribe, comment, thank you so much to those of you who do, I really appreciate you, you are awesome, and I love getting to read all your comments, whether good, bad, or insipid.

I don't know, anywho. That's all I got, so, okay. I will talk to you later, I'll talk to you later.

I'm not on the phone with you. Okay, this is going downhill really quickly, so on that note, I'm Amara Andrew, never stop creating.

The sun has fried my little brain.