You know what we haven't been hearing much news about lately? That's right, art crime. No Pebble Beach "Pollocks" bollocks, no Find The Warhols! updates from LA...
So it's a relief to hear that hilarious Warholian scams haven't all disappeared. A man and a woman in Utah were recently busted for trafficking in fake Warhol paintings. In February 2008--wow, take your time reporting that one--a California man paid $25,000 toward the $100,000 purchase of six supposed Warhol paintings, made in 1996, of Matthew Baldwin, aka The Lost Baldwin Brother. Never mind that Warhol died in 1987 and Matthew Baldwin is actually the writer of Defective Yeti.
After an appraiser pointed out the fakes, the woman tried to exchange them for a painting "she claimed was worth nearly $70 million." Hey! I know two guys who just lost a supposed $70 million painting!
This is officially the best Fake Warhol In Utah story since the artist sent an impostor to deliver a lecture at the University of Utah in 1968. [Sorry, aging Salt Flats hippie who's trying to sell the Warhol garbage bag he took home from the Factory.]
