Mexican government investigating collector who claims he burned a Frida Kahlo drawing for an NFT charity project
A Florida man who set fire to what appears to be a $10 million Frida Kahlo drawing as part of a non-fungible token (NFT) launch is under investigation for federal crimes in Mexico.
Martin Mobarak, a Mexican tech entrepreneur and creator of the cryptocurrency AGCoin, filmed his fiery stunt on July 30 during a private event at his Miami mansion, Mexico Daily Post reported. The guests were invited to the launch of an “exclusive NFT collection” produced by Mobarak’s project Frida.NFTwhich marks 10,000 digital versions of Fantasmones Siniestros, a drawing by Kahlo. Footage on YouTube, posted by Frida.NFT, shows Mobarak’s unveiling a piece of paper that appears to be Fantasmones Siniestros (1944), unscrewed it from its frame and placed it on a martini glass with dry ice and fuel. He lights it on fire as the crowd – described on his website as “a curated list of participants” – cheers and a mariachi band breaks into song.
As documentation of the event circulated, it also caught the attention of Mexico’s National Institute of Arts and Letters, the country’s leading cultural authority. The institute announced on Monday that it is investigating the destruction on the grounds that Kahlo’s works are national treasures. “In Mexico, the deliberate destruction of an artistic monument constitutes a crime under the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments and Zones,” it said in a statement.
Mobarak has claimed that a portion of sales from the NFTs, which are priced at 3 Ethereum (about $4,000 today), will benefit charities including the Museo Frida Kahlo and Palacio de Bellas Artes, both in Mexico City, and Children’s Craniofacial Association. Frida.NFT describes itself as “a ground-breaking innovative blockchain technology that is reforming the charity industry to increase transparency, donation frequency and donor incentive”. NFT holders will receive a high-resolution image of the drawing and “access to luxury facilities, unique experiences and exclusive events around the world,” among other benefits, the website said.
Fantasmones Siniestros (or “Sinister Ghosts”) was originally a two-page drawing Kahlo made in her diary, depicting a myriad of creatures in ink and watercolor. The artist presented it as a gift to the Venezuelan art critic Juan Röhl, and it eventually ended up in the position of the New York-based gallery Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art. Martin sold the drawing in 2004 to the Vergel Foundation and then in 2013 to a private collector, according to to Vice. (The work is on display at least twice, in the 2010 Kahlo retrospective at the Gropius Bau and as part of the 2012–13 traveling exhibition Frida & Diego: Passion, politics and paintingco-organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, the High Museum of Art and Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico.)
Mobarak has said on his website that he bought the work in 2015 from Martin. But the New York dealer told Vice that she did not sell him the drawing and had never heard of him until last week. “The whole thing is scary,” she told the publication.
The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature says it is currently gathering information to confirm whether the destroyed work was the original. Frida.NFT’s website claims it was, noting that the work was certified for authenticity by Mexican art dealer Andrés Siegel on the day of the burning, after which it was placed in the custody of security and guarded until the incident. “The painting was permanently transferred to the Metaverse on July 30, 2022,” the website states. In an interview with Exeleon Magazinesaid Mobarak, who grew up in Mexico City he has a lifelong appreciation for Kahlo, whose museum he visited several times as a student. He also hinted that this was the first of several NFT collections to come based on artwork from his own collection. “As the current owner of the paintings, I have a vision to create perpetual donations to several organizations in need with royalties from the NFT sales and fundraising,” he says.
Mobarak isn’t the only wealthy person exploring the combustible intersection of physical art, NFTs, and fire. Damien Hirst plans to burn a number of his works next month in London as part of a project where collectors would have to choose between retaining ownership of physical objects or receiving NFTs instead.
