Stealing an artwork from the street and trying to flog it is the subject of a new movie called ‘How to sell a Banksy‘ but this is exactly what José Carlos Martinat did in Buenos Aires recently. All photos by Buenos Aires Street Art.
Original mural by Saga in situ (photo © BA Street Art)
Rip off – damaged mural by Saga (photo © BA Street Art)
Classic artwork by Jaz (photo © BA Street Art)
It’s hard to believe but the Peruvian Martinat, with hired help, stole parts of walls surrounding a bus depot in Chacarita decorated with murals by well-known South American street artists such as Saga and Jaz.
They painted over sections of the walls with clear fibre-glass resin and then removed the layers of paint with a plan to sell them at a gallery exhibition along with Martinat’s own work. All that is now left of the murals are ugly holes.
Violin-ated: the mutilated mural (photo © BA Street Art)
You can see still see the sections of wall where parts of the artworks have been removed on the corner of Castillo y Fitz Roy streets in Villa Crespo. The original works had all been painted with the permission from the depot’s management.
The opening of Martinat’s exhibition at a gallery in Monserrat was greeted with a hostile and violent reaction. According to an article in Pagina 12 which first broke the story, a group consisting of local residents and street artists stormed the gallery in a commando-style raid vandalizing Martinat’s exhibits. They also set off fire extinguishers and wrote insults on the walls using aerosols and even sprayed paint on the shirt of the gallery owner himself.
Missing: part of collaboration between Lean Frizzera, Emy Mariani & Jaz (photo © BA Street Art)
As Pagina 12 put it: “They considered it an eye for an eye”.Martinat also removed another artwork by Jaz that formed part of a collaboration with Lean Frizzera and Emy Mariani and also robbed works by Lean. “The ridiculous thing is this guy sold everything from his exhibition,” said Lean. “He removes the artworks with a resin. It’s a process whereby you paint with an emulsion that lifts off the paint and afterwards with the resin you put it on a tablet. It’s crazy!”
Give it back: another artwork by Jaz before it was damaged & stolen by Martinat (photo © BA Street Art)
All photos © Buenos Aires Street Art
