Ark
Title: Ark
Materials: Love, Qi, Acrylic, Medium, LED Tape, Cardboard
Dimensions: 45cm x 70cm x 7cm
Creation: 2023Year
Explanation | Ark
Countless lights, like a starry sky.
They represent the hopes of artists around the world.
This work was created based on a scam that I personally experienced.
Around September 2023, I received an exhibition offer from a gallery in Italy named Context Art Gallery through a certain social media platform.
The exhibition conditions were very good, so I signed the contract and paid the exhibition fee.
(€300 = about ¥50,000 at the time)
I shipped the two works designated by the other party to the location and waited for a response.
However, after that, I never received any response.
I later found out that the Italian man who claimed to be the gallerist, Marco Antonio Patrizio, was an international scammer.
For years, he had been continuing to steal art and money from artists all around the world using the same methods, without being caught by the police (as of August 2024).
I thought I had lost both the artworks and the money, and the opportunity.
However, just three months later, miraculously, the two works I had shipped returned to my house.
It was because they had been held up at the Italian Customs and no one had come to collect them.
This work was created using the cardboard that had been used to transport and pack those two artworks.
It could be said that this cardboard became like an ark for these two pieces of art.
I hope that by exposing this work to a wide audience through the internet and social media, it will serve as a deterrent against such scams.
Poem | Ark
A person's dream
Cannot be taken away
supplementary information
Why International Art Fraudster Marco Antonio Patrizio Hasn’t Been Caught
There are three main reasons why international art fraudster Marco Antonio Patrizio hasn’t been caught.
1.
The crime targets individuals residing outside Italy, where Marco Antonio Patrizio lives, rather than those within Italy.
2.
The fraud amounts to €300 per case, which is an ideally subtle amount. For foreign victims outside Italy, reporting the fraud is extremely difficult. Even if a report is made, the Italian police will not take action over such a small amount. Consequently, most artists are left to suffer silently. The total num
