Cristina Rubio Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-11:52

The Mossos d'Esquadra have dismantled a network that created and distributed false works attributed to the artist Banksy throughout the world.

Some of the pieces and paintings were sold for 1,500 euros.

As reported by the police force, those investigated marketed the fake works online, supposedly coming from the artist's Dismaland project, but made in a workshop in Zaragoza.

Specifically, four people are being investigated and charged with crimes of continued fraud and intellectual property crimes.

Within the framework of 'cyber patrolling' and the control tasks of the art market, researchers from the Central Historical Heritage Unit detected in the month of July 2023 the sale of different works attributed to Banksy on online platforms, auction rooms and antique dealers.

During the month of August, the first inspections and interventions of these works were carried out, to check traceability and locate the source from which the fake works came.

The researchers intervened 9 works, some of which had already been sold and others that were still for sale.

The traceability of the operations made it possible to identify the main distributor, who diversified sales in specialized stores, in auction rooms in Barcelona and from busy online sales pages.

In December 2023, an inspection of the activity of the workshop at the point of creation of the works was carried out.

An apartment in the city of Zaragoza was the place from which a couple of young followers of Banksy's urban art and with financial problems created works on cardboard to which they added graphic accessories that made them more attractive.

The agents seized stencils and ink stamps in Dismaland, as well as the paint aerosols they used.

However, the accredited sales of this pair were at reasonable prices and did not exceed 80 euros.

The main person investigated as the distributor of these works is a person with knowledge of the functioning of the graphic work market and its distribution.

With the interested collaboration of a distribution entity, they prepared a type of certificate that individually indicated that the work had been created by the artist's hand within the Dismaland project.

However, it was possible to prove through the company Pest Control, the only official body that authenticates works by Banksy, that the works were fake as well as the certificates.

The person responsible for these certifications is being investigated for their collaboration.

The two main investigators are people with knowledge of the art world and who have been dedicated to it for years.

Investigators have documented 25 sales, with victims located throughout Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Scotland.

Some victims paid 1,500 euros per work and more than 10,000 euros have been defrauded.

The investigation remains open and more victims or new arrests are not ruled out.

The works were announced as coming from the DISMALAND event, an artistic project that was held between August 22 and September 27, 2015 in a "depressing" amusement park of a protest nature created by the artist Banksy in Somerset (England).

Inside the venue, works by dozens of artists personally invited by Banksy were on display, and it is speculated that he would have hidden works of his own hand so that visitors could find them, although in no case was there a store with his works for sale. .

Hence, the works sold were accompanied by photocopied receipts for tickets to Parc Dismaland.

The sellers intended to give a guarantee with the origin or traceability of the works for sale.

The works were made on aerosol cardboard, using templates and incorporating elements that generate confidence in buyers, such as ink stamps and stickers.

These works seemed to have a common origin due to the certifications that accompanied them, the stickers and other marks of creation.

The observed characteristics and the volume of supply made the researchers suspicious.