Tuesday, April 12, 2011

art, money laundering: ronald ventura, auction

Grayground by Ronald Ventura

A large painting by Filipino contemporary artist Ronald Ventura was the star of the Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings auction last April 4 in Hong Kong, selling for HK$8,420,000, or P46.9 million, after fierce bidding.

The winning bid was the highest for Sotheby’s Contemporary Southeast Asian Painting auction.

source: Ronald Ventura’s tour-de-force work sells for $1.1M at Sotheby’s, setting new

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now i cant help but remember this article which came out last year.

Money Laundering Through Artworks

"Knowing the limits on carrying foreign currency outside the country, jueteng operators have resorted to buying works by young Filipino artists known to international collectors, said lawyer Fernando Topacio... The paintings are removed from their frames, rolled inside tubes and hand-carried on planes, he said."

the same creative scheme by jueteng lords could be done in hongkong right? of coures im not implying that theres dirty money behind every purchase of filipino paintings abroad. somehow its good for the philippine art scene, but definitely it doesnt help solve our country's existing problems.

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