By NOEL MURPHY
A GEELONG art dealer faces charges over an alleged multi-million-dollar Brett Whiteley art fraud.
Peter Gant, who ran Irascible Gallery at Melbourne, is embroiled in police allegations he sold three fake masterpieces from Whiteley’s Lavender Bay series that were produced by art conservator and co-accused Mohamed Aman Siddique.
Both are listed to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in March over the allegations regarding the paintings: Orange Lavender Bay, Big Blue Lavender Bay and Lavender Bay Through the Window.
The works sold, respectively, for an alleged $1.1 million, $2.5 million and $950,000 to various parties – luxury car dealer Steven Nateski, Sydney Swans chairman and merchant banker Andrew Pridham, and given to a Melbourne restaurateur to cover outstanding debts.
Both Mr Siddique and Mr Gant face four deception charges totalling more than $3 million over the alleged forgeries.
The late Whiteley, who died of a drug overdose in a NSW motel in 1992, was an Australian avant-garde artist whose works feature in all the country’s large galleries.
He was a double winner of the prestigious Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, and his works routinely sell for millions. He was an Order of Australia recipient.
The court this week heard Whiteley had sold “second tier” paintings to fuel his drug habit and that the defendants’ lawyers wanted to explore the late artist’s relationship with his deceased manager, Christian Quintas.
The defence claimed Whiteley sold second-grade paintings to a “subterranean market” to finance his drug habit.
His better works were allegedly sold to art galleries for higher prices.
