Artist Chris Burden pleads for Allen Stanford's gold
Arizona Coin Collector
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5841298.ece
Artist Chris Burden pleads for Allen Stanford's gold
Chris Ayres in Los Angeles
March 4, 2009
Officials investigating the alleged $8 billion fraud of
the Texas cricket financier Allen Stanford have reacted
in disbelief to a request from one of his customers,
that a special delivery of 100 solid gold bars be
allowed to go ahead as planned.
The reason?
The $3.3 million worth of bullion - each bar weighs
1kg - is needed for a Beverly Hills art exhibition that
explores how "duality resides in both the literal and
figurative aspects of weights and measures, as well as
in the layers of meaning embedded in the known
hierarchy of materials".
The artist responsible, Chris Burden - whose previous
stunts have included being shot in the left arm,
crucified on the top of a VW Beetle, and set on
fire - still hopes to open his show, entitled "One Kilo,
One Ton", with a reception at the Gorgonian Gallery
on Saturday.
But that all depends on how a judge in Dallas reacts
to news of the artist's plight.
According to court papers, the shipment of gold to the
Gagosian was put on hold last week when the US
Securities and Exchange Commission charged Mr
Stanford - along with two of his associates and three
of his companies - with "massive, ongoing fraud". At
the time of the charges, a court order was obtained
by the SEC to freeze all of Mr Stanford's assets,
including gold bullion reserves.
In a legal challenge to the asset freeze, the
Gagosian, which has galleries in New York, Beverly
Hills, London and Rome, said it had been unfairly
caught up in the litigation.
It argued that its gold had been purchased in
January from Stanford Coins & Bullion, one of the
Texas financier's many companies, and that the
parties had agreed that the purchase price would be
wired to Stanford Coins and then transferred to the
Dillon Gage Group, an unrelated dealer of rare
coins and metals.
But the dealer is now refusing to ship the 100 bars.
The Gagosian argues that the gold was not bought "in
connection with any type of investment account, but
rather represents a straightforward spot purchase of
a tangible commodity. As such, the transaction, the
subject of this motion, is simply not the type of
transaction involved in the alleged "Ponzi" scheme,
the subject of the Securities and Exchange
Commission's focus."
A spokeswoman for the Gagosian said yesterday that the
gallery would know today whether or not the gold
would became available and that, if not, the
exhibition would possibly be delayed for a week or
two. The freeze on Mr Stanford's assets will remain
in force until March 12.
Chris Burden, 62, is perhaps best-known in the UK for
his 2005 project "Ghost Ship", which involved sailing
a crewless, self-navigating yacht from Fair Isle, near
Shetland, to Newcastle upon Tyne. Much of the
£150,000 in funding came from the UK Arts Council.
Burden is certainly used to the controversy that
comes with his work; he was briefly committed to a
mental institution following the 1971 shooting stunt.
He has also used gold previously, in a 1985 work
entitled Tower of Power.
The $1 million of bullion was borrowed from a Rhode
Island bank for the length of the show, at a 6 per
cent interest rate.
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