An original drawing by late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was apparently turned to ash by its owner during an event in Miami this past summer.
According to Vice, Mexican businessman, Martin Mobarak lit Kahlo’s ink and watercolor drawing titled Fantasmones Siniestros (Sinister Ghosts) on fire in front of an audience of about 200 people in late July. The reason? He planned on replacing the drawing with 10,000 NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of the image.
“People may see it as I destroyed it. But I didn’t,” Mobarak said. “This way I am bringing it to the world. I am letting everybody see it. I think it does more good for the world and makes a statement rather than just sitting in someone’s private collection.”
Mobarak’s plan is to sell 10,000 NFTs at a price of three ETH on the Ethereum blockchain. If you’re not familiar with cryptocurrency, that equals to around $4,000 per NFT. If Mobarak is able to sell all 10,000 NFTs, he will make $40 million – approximately $30 million more than Mobarak said the original drawing was worth.
According to fridanft.org, buyers of the Fantasmones Siniestros NFT will receive “high-resolution images of the front and back of the drawing, a copy of the certificate of authenticity, and animated GIFs and short movie loops for displaying in digital picture frames or projecting onto walls.”
“Mr. Mobarak’s vision is to introduce Frida’s work into the metaverse and leverage her powerful likeness to bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers on a mission to merge the traditional art world with the expanding potential of the digital art worlds in art and immortalize humanities story,” the website reads.
Not everyone believes Mobarak burned the original artwork of Frida Kahlo. Some are calling it a hoax. According to the New York Post, Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature is investigating the incident.