An Andy Warhol painting that was stolen from a SoHo gallery a decade ago is now on ice at Christie’s auction house, where a Brooklyn man had tried to sell it.
Jason Beltrez said he bought “Dollar Sign” at an outdoor market in New Jersey for $200, which would be quite a steal – another painting from the same series sold for $4.6 million last year.
But the find made officials at Christie’s wary when Beltrez brought it in for possible consignment this past September, “because he was not your typical Andy Warhol consigner,” said Chris Marinello of the Art Loss Register.
Christie’s contacted the register – a database of stolen artworks worldwide – and discovered the painting was one of two that had been swiped from Martin Lawrence Galleries in SoHo on Valentine’s Day 1998.
The theft is still under investigation by the NYPD.
Christie’s pulled the painting off the market, and now Martin Lawrence Galleries is suing Beltrez to get the painting back.
Beltrez, who a source said had lived around the corner from the SoHo gallery at the time the 1981 silkscreen painting was stolen, said: “This is a civil case, not a criminal case. They’re trying to smear me.”
He called it “a classic case of a conglomerate trying to screw the little guy.”
Marinello said Beltrez has no legal claim to the painting even if he bought it at a show, because “you can’t transfer title to stolen artwork.”
Gallery owners said they are confident they’ll win the suit. The president, Eric Dannemann, said, “We are most pleased with the recovery of this unique artwork.”