Dalí still a chancer / schmecurity... (Wednesday 18 June 2008)
compiled by Madeline Meehan
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| Yer man; image held here. |
Stans Lauryssens, an ex-neighbour of Salvador Dalí, released his new book Dalí and I: the surreal story about two weeks ago, and the contents are rather shocking.
In it Lauryssens claims that “[Dalí] authorized assistants to produce thousands of forgeries in his name, in order to fund his lavish lifestyle,” and that as a result, “a large percentage of the Dalí works on display today — including in major museums — are fakes,” according to CBC News [1]. Lauryssens has made similar claims in interviews related to the publication of his book. He has also made a number of other rather random – not art-related – allegations about the lifestyle Dalí led, many of which seem likely based on the information already widely acknowledged about his personality – that he had a tendency to do things more for their shock value or amusement than from any real support for their philosophical underpinning (he was at different times in his life associated with anarchy and communism, as well has having once stated on 60 Minutes in the third person that “Dalí is immortal and will not die”) [2].
The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation has responded rather emphatically by assuring the public that it will take legal action against Lauryssens for what it at least seems to ardently believe are utterly untrue accusations. Hollywood, on the other hand has responded quite differently, by offering Lauryssens a movie deal based on the contents of his book.
Cheeky thieves, silly security?
On May 23 there was an art heist at the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, B.C. Twelve Bill Reid jewellery items were stolen and three bracelets made from Mexican gold coins, according to CBC News [1]. Several weeks ago police searched the homes of several suspects and discovered most of what they were after…although the suspects have since been released and no charges have been filed to date.
Rumour has it that the thieves called into the museum several days before the heist and informed the guards that there would be alarm tests in the upcoming days. The guards, who were actually just campus security on a night shift, apparently didn’t verify that the call had actually come from their security company. And that evening when the heist was in progress and when the alarms were triggered the one guard still on duty didn’t even check to see what was happening. There is footage of the heist in progress, though it’s blurry due to the museum's policy of turning of the lights at night. The thieves waited until the guard went on a smoke break and then they broke in wearing gas masks and sprayed the area with pepper spray (or as it is more commonly known in Canada, bear spray) to slow down anyone who might try to follow them. [2].
The police and the museum are now searching for the final two missing pieces; they are offering a reward and they have published all the information about the two pieces, photos as well as sizes and descriptions, so that anyone who spots the art can call in with a tip, which was, in the end, how they discovered the locations of the other pieces [3].
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For a full list of news items, click here.
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