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Tourists defrauded in "art" sales

Park West Gallery makes juicy profits on fake or overpriced artworks

JULIO AGUILAR
EL UNIVERSAL
FRIDAY AUGUST 8TH, 2008
cultura@eluniversal.com.mx

Many cruise passengers have reported attempts at sea against their livelihood, not at the hands of pirates but from businesses which operate on cruise ships. And an undetermined number of these incidents occurred off the Mexican coastline.

Park West Gallery, a Michigan based art auction house is the main target of the claims and suits, accused of price gouging and overvaluing works of art and offering pieces of doubtful provenance and authenticity. This auction house founded in 1969 operates Park West at Sea, the department which has concessions aboard most of the cruise lines which sail from the United States such as Regent, Holland, Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Celebrity. Many follow four routes along the coast of Mexico. According to the Offices of Tourism, Communication and Transportation, in 2007, 36 cruise lines docked in 20 Mexican ports carrying a total of 6 million 376 thousand passengers on board.

Prior to 1993, auctions at sea were a rarity, until Park West converted them into a routine and a great business. The New York Times has been the most recent medium for exposing the claims against Park West, such as the sale of prints supposedly signed by Salvador Dalí but documented as false in the catalogue raisonné and on specialized websites. Also the presence of a Picasso not to be missed.

Pablo Rosete, a businessman living in Querétaro who boarded a Norwegian Line ship in Seattle for a cruise to Alaska recalls a degree of harassment from the promoters to attend the art show and auction. "The first 48 hours are very boring because the cruise ship doesn't stop anywhere; they do it on purpose so that people spend money buying things which are not included in the package," reflects this businessman, who saw curious tourists rather than connoisseurs. Park West takes advantage of the cruise passengers ignorance and inexperience. Also, since communications to the mainland are very expensive (an internet session costs up to $65 with an extremely slow connection, Rosete explains) doing ones due diligence prior to purchase is almost a mission impossible.

In addition to the New York Times, other media such as USA Today, the Broward Palm Beach New Times, The Arizona Republic and the website FineArtRegistry.com have published stories about vacationers who, on getting back home, discovered that they had bought a questionable or fake piece, a supposed limited edition print that in reality is just a poster or, in the best of cases, a genuine piece but overpriced. This last was the case for the businessman, Luis Maldonado in San Diego who bought the print Le Clown by Picasso for $31,110, (a bargain according to Park West), aboard a Regent cruise.

On returning to California and checking with experts, Maldonado found that the piece was worth no more than $5,000, the New York Times a few days ago. Before the story was published, Park West contacted him and other victims who were interviewed by the newspaper and agreed to a full refund under a confidentiality agreement.

In other cases people have sued and included the cruise lines who have tried to claim no responsibility because they say the auctions are under concession. Nevertheless, the New York Times managed to get Albert Scaglione, founder of Park West, to disclose that the cruise lines obtain a commission for the works sold. It appears that the FBI is already investigating.

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