The FBI has raided a Florida art museum and seized more than two dozen paintings attributed to artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

According to a search warrant, federal art crimes investigators have been looking into the 25 paintings since shortly after their discovery in 2012. The controversy gained more attention shortly after the Orlando exhibit opened in February.

Basquiat, who lived and worked in New York City, found success in the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. The Orlando Museum of Art was the first institution to display pieces said to have been found in an old storage locker years after Basquiat’s 1988 death from a drug overdose at age 27.

Questions about the artworks’ authenticity arose almost immediately after their discovery. The artwork was purportedly made in 1982, but experts have pointed out that the cardboard used in at least one of the pieces included FedEx typeface that wasn’t used until 1994, about six years after Basquiat died, according to the warrant. Also, television writer Thad Mumford, the owner of the storage locker where the art was eventually found, told investigators that he had never owned any Basquiat art and that the pieces were not in the unit the last time he had visited. Mumford died in 2018.

this sounds way less interesting than it actually is

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1540502309779685377

https://apnews.com/article/travel-crime-ea8b1f40028430bec675a6f30babe74a

https://archive.ph/NOE0w

https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/383965679

https://archive.ph/LJkY8