The works, spanning paintings, prints and sculptures, were hired from a Belgian company and presented to visitors as genuine. Investigators describe it as a clearly organised criminal operation with reach across Europe. They ranged from Warhols to pieces by Banksy and Keith Haring.
A pop art exhibition held in the Calabrian city of Reggio Calabria has unravelled into an international art fraud investigation. Italian police seized 143 works believed to be forgeries, all falsely attributed to Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Banksy.
The show, titled “Pop to Street Art: Influences”, ran from 20 July 2024 to 5 January 2025 across three prominent cultural venues in the city: the Accademia di Belle Arti, the Casa della Cultura “P. Crupi”, and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. It was promoted with regional media coverage and featured on the Calabria Straordinaria tourism platform, lending it an air of institutional credibility that visitors had every reason to trust.
They should not have. Scientific analysis later carried out by investigators revealed the works to be counterfeit. In many cases, officers said, the forgeries were crude enough to be described as grossolane – blatant.
The Belgian connection
The artworks had been supplied to the Accademia di Belle Arti by a Belgian company, under a contract worth €50,000. The arrangement also provided for additional income from ticket sales and merchandise, giving the suppliers a financial stake in the show’s success as well as an upfront fee.
Investigators from the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (Nucleo TPC) of Cosenza initially seized 133 works attributed to Warhol and Haring. A subsequent international request for judicial assistance opened a second front in Belgium. Ten further forgeries attributed to Banksy were located and seized in the city of Liège. A further 11 pieces remain under examination by Belgian judicial authorities on suspicion of presenting the same hallmarks of counterfeiting.
Three Belgian nationals and three companies linked to them are now under investigation for suspected fraud. Prosecutors allege that the group operated a sophisticated criminal network specialising in the mass production and distribution of fake works.
One of the suspects is identified as the owner of the company that supplied the works to the Reggio Calabria academy. A third individual was identified as a result of the international searches.
Italian police have uncovered many art frauds including other Warhols in recent years.
