Banksy’s ‘Girl With Balloon’ Stolen from a London Gallery But Later Found, Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Lisa Schiff Forced to Sell Collection, and More: Morning Links for September 13, 2024

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The Headlines

BANKSY SMASH, GRAB, AND RETURN. The iconic Banksy print, Girl With Balloon, was stolen from a London gallery on Sunday night—but was promptly recovered by the police on Thursday. Officers also arrested two men, reports the Times. CCTV footage shows a hooded suspect smashing Grove Gallery’s glass front on New Cavendish Street before grabbing the Banksy artwork valued at $354,000. The culprit then fled. They did not try taking any other items, nor, alas, did the painting spontaneously self-destruct into shredded strips of paper once removed.

SCHIFF-TY BUSINESS. Disgraced art advisor Lisa Schiff, accused of defrauding clients through a Ponzi scheme, is poised to have over 200 artworks from her possession auctioned off as part of bankruptcy proceedings, pending an expected court approval, reports Artnet News. Bankruptcy trustees have made a motion to sell the art via Phillips and the trove is worth an estimated $2 million in total. The works are reportedly by artists including Judy Chicago, Damien Hirst, Marina Perez Simão, and Sanya Kantarovsky. Schiff’s high-profile clients once included the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio but she declared bankruptcy after allegations of fraud from collectors and a former friend and client, Candace Barasch. If approved, the sale should begin November 18.

The Digest

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has canceled the premiere of the documentary Russians at War , which follows Russian soldiers to battle in Ukraine, after intense criticism. Organizers said they would instead show the film “when it is safe to do so,” in a decision reversing an earlier statement by the festival organizers to keep the film. [The Globe and Mail ]

When he was an 11-year-old boy, Mat Winter of Kent, England, now 24, saved an old print from the dump that he thought interesting. He kept it for years with other antique finds and recently learned it was one of Albrecht Dürer’s most famous woodcut engravings, Knight, Death and the Devil, which is now set to sell for around $26,000 at auction. [ The Times]

The internationally replicated “Culture Pass,” initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron, which gives 18-year-olds 300 euros to spend on cultural activities, is a massive “fiasco,” according to Le Monde’s editor-in-chief Michel Guerrin. Rather than reducing social divisions over access to the arts, it deepens them, by favoring youth with wealthier backgrounds and existing exposure to culture. One key error: no guidance is offered in spending choices and the gift certificates, costing the government millions that Guerrin says could go towards arts education, is instead largely spent on video games and comic books. [Le Monde]

The bells are back at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following the 2019 fire and are set to ring for the first time when the cathedral opens again on December 8. [ The Associated Press]

The Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr has died at age 84. She painted scenes of life in Saudi Arabia, in part to document dying traditions, including an acclaimed series of watercolor paintings depicting regional garments. [The National]

Multi-disciplinary British artist FKA twigs unveils a new piece of performance art at Sotheby’s in London on September 13. The Eleven is a durational piece performed by a rotating group of eleven “movers.” [Sotheby’s livestream]

The Kicker

IT’S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY. Javier Peres, the founder of the talent-spotting Peres Projects gallery, talks to Spike Magazine about the evolution of Berlin’s creative scene, where he has spent nearly two decades. He also offers some fresh takes on art dealing. The international gallery owner still has a Berlin space on Karl-Marx-Alee, and two others in Milan and Seoul, but has been spending less time in the German art hub, where costs have risen. “It’s become so difficult to operate,” he said. “There’s still a big audience in Berlin that consumes contemporary art — they just don’t buy it. That said, we’ve never been dependent on a local audience of clients.” Beyond Berlin, Peres defends artists who only enjoy brief success. “Some artists make some incredible works, then run out of steam. But there’s a place for that in the art world. If your star shines real bright for five minutes, that’s five more minutes than 99.99 percent of the people on the planet … Art history can’t only be about artists who had sixty years of making incredible, earth-smashing works,” he said. “What culture brings to the table is it picks out the people who are special and puts them together and pushes them forward,” he added earlier. “Fundamentally, at the end of the day, that’s what our job is…” We can drink to that. [Spike Magazine]