Hunter Biden’s abstract paintings will sell for up to $500K each

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Hunter Biden is preparing to sell his artworks at an upcoming exhibition for as much as $500,000 to ‘anonymous and confidential’ buyers, sparking concerns over bribery and potential money laundering.    

The scandal-plagued first son, who has no professional background as an artist, will be selling off his artwork at a solo exhibition in New York City this fall. 

The 51-year-old’s art dealer Georges Berges, who was jailed in California in the 90s for assault and making terroristic threats, told Artnet that he has priced Biden’s artworks between $75,000 and $500,000.

All sales of Biden’s artwork will be kept confidential.  

The staggering prices of the artwork and the revelations that buyers will remain anonymous has quickly sparked fears of bribery and money laundering. 

There are concerns from some that the sales of Biden’s artwork could result in people laundering money, or even anonymous buyers in places like Russia purchasing his work to avoid US sanctions. 

The agency representing Biden’s art dealer says it is common for gallery and auction sales to remain confidential but this practice has been scrutinized by law enforcement agencies in recent years.   

‘Pricing fine art in his experiences as a gallerist is based on the demand of the work as well and the intrinsic value of it,’ a statement from Berges’ agency said. ‘His feeling is that within each piece – as with every artist, sales are always confidential to protect the privacy of the collector, this is standard practice for transactions in galleries as well as auction houses.’  

Many on social media, however, were not convinced given Biden’s history of alleged corruption in his business dealings with Ukraine. 

Former Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh tweeted: ‘It’s now actually commonplace for people to throw piles of money at Hunter Biden. Will the rest of the corporate media care that anonymous ‘collectors’ are dropping large sums on the president’s son, or nah? 

‘They couldn’t possibly want anything. They’re just art lovers, right?’

Conservative commentator John Cardillo questioned whether Biden’s painting career could be a way of offering access to his dad for cash.

‘Hunter Biden’s Art Will Soon Hit the Market for Up to $500,000 Per Piece. Money. Laundering,’ he tweeted.

‘And just like that, Chinese, Iranian, and Russian ‘collectors’ will be shelling out big bucks for Hunter Biden’s ‘art,’ as their sanctions continued to be lifted with nothing in return.’ 

Money laundering and other crimes has long been an issue in the art world because of how secretive sales can be and how prices of artwork fluctuates.      

Meanwhile, the prices of Biden’s work are also well above what some career painters make on a single artwork. 

Renowned American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat sold his first artwork in 1984 for $20,900, which equates to roughly $54,000 today.

Just a few years ago, Andy Warhol’s 1983 Endangered Species sold for $725,000 – just $225,000 more than a Biden piece – at a New York auction. 

Biden’s art dealer is planning a private viewing in Los Angeles before a solo exhibit will be held at his Georges Berges Gallery in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood in the fall. 

Berges has likened Biden to famed British painters Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, whose artworks have fetched up to $142 million at auction. 

New York art dealer Alex Acevedo told the New York Post that anyone who buys one of Biden’s artworks will be guaranteed a profit because he’s President Biden’s son.  

‘Everybody would want a piece of that. The provenance is impeccable,’ he said.

Acevedo said if it weren’t for the Biden name the artworks would more likely sell for between $25,000 to $100,000, but added that he did like Biden’s work. 

‘I’m not impressed with modern art at all. But I was floored by that guy,’ Acevedo said of Biden’s work. ‘The palette was wonderful. The space was well-organized. I would buy a couple of them. 

Art consultant Martin Galindo said that he wasn’t a fan of Biden’s art but was confident the pieces would sell for hefty prices. 

‘I’m very positive that he’s gonna do well in the market because this industry is very much about, what’s a simple way to put this – it’s like clout.’

After looking at one of Biden’s abstract artworks that appears to resemble bacteria under a microscope, Galindo said: ‘Oh, my God, that looks like COVID.’ 

The former drug addict, who is a lawyer and former lobbyist, has been embroiled in various scandals over the years including alleged corruption in his business dealings with Ukraine. 

He was paid up to $50,000 a month to sit on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, despite not having any relevant qualifications. 

More recently, text messages obtained from his laptop reveal he repeatedly used the n-word in messages to his lawyer in 2018 and 2019.

Biden, who detailed his drug habits in his memoir, said making art wasn’t a form of therapy for him.  

‘It’s not a tool that I use to be able to, in any way, cope,’ he said.  

‘It comes from a much deeper place. If you stand in front of a Rothko, the things that he evokes go far beyond the pain that Rothko was experiencing in his personal life at that moment. 

‘I don’t paint from emotion or feeling, which I think are both very ephemera. For me, painting is much more about kind of trying to bring forth what is, I think, the universal truth. 

‘The universal truth is that everything is connected and that there’s something that goes far beyond what is our five senses and that connects us all.’  

When he was asked for his father thought of his artwork, Biden said: ‘My dad loves everything that I do and so I’ll leave it at that.’ 

Biden first opened up about his passion for art in an interview with the New York Times in February 2020, saying the creative endeavor was ‘literally keeping me sane’ following his struggles with crack addiction and in the midst of politically charged scrutiny over his foreign dealings. 

He signed a deal to be represented by Georges Bergès Gallery late last year.  

Biden’s art dealer’s roster of artists includes Sylvester Stallone and Bahraini royal family member Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa. 

Berges was the subject of a federal lawsuit in 2016 after he was accused of defrauding an investor. The investor claimed she’d invested $500,000 in his gallery but he used the cash to pay off debts. Berges countersued and the case was settled in 2018.

In 1998, he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and making ‘terrorist threats’ in California. He pled no contest to the assault charges and served 90 days in jail and received a 36 month probation. The terrorist threat charges were later dismissed.

Berges also has strong ties to China and has regularly exhibited works by Chinese artists.