[Drymounted]

I know he's not too big on this board, but it's pretty interesting to see what's happened to Alec Monopoly. It seems Mike Mozart has finally spoken up to let the world know that he's been Alec's ghost artist all along. This was announced shortly after Alec's Forever 21 release, and the result below shows his true hand skills once Mike Mozart pulled his designs.

Still seems pretty hush for the general population and Alec supporters, as his Instagram comments seem pretty moderated. Interested to hear some commentary on the situation though... It's an interesting situation as it seems the art was appreciated by quite a few collectors, yet it seemed that the persona of Alec is what interested his collectors most. Will Mike be able to pickup Alec's fan base, or does this just show that image is as important as skill?

It seems a lot like the MBW formula, but MBW was much more forthcoming...Is the upfront honesty what kept/keeps MBW relevant? Will Monopoly still stay relevant in the US despite the news, due to his image, or will the bottom fall out?

Check out instagram.com/mikemozart/ for more examples...

[Deleted]

An open secret in the community, only ignoramuses who had the wool pulled over their eyes by unscrupulous gallerists relating it to "street art" bought his ridiculous, irrelevant work. He's gone. Good ! The streets breathe a sigh of relief.

[Drymounted]

Sept 10, 2015 22:30:13 GMT 1 @martedanielsen said:

An open secret in the community, only ignoramuses who had the wool pulled over their eyes by unscrupulous gallerists relating it to "street art" bought his ridiculous, irrelevant work. He's gone. Good ! The streets breathe a sigh of relief.

The scary thing is that he is the #9 most searched artist on Artnet:

news.artnet.com/people/the-top-10-most-searched-artists-on-artnet-in-2014-223139

Seems a lot have been buying into his work. 

[WOOF]

Sept 10, 2015 22:42:50 GMT 1 Drymounted said:

Sept 10, 2015 22:30:13 GMT 1 @martedanielsen said:

An open secret in the community, only ignoramuses who had the wool pulled over their eyes by unscrupulous gallerists relating it to "street art" bought his ridiculous, irrelevant work. He's gone. Good ! The streets breathe a sigh of relief.

The scary thing is that he is the #9 most searched artist on Artnet:

news.artnet.com/people/the-top-10-most-searched-artists-on-artnet-in-2014-223139

Seems a lot have been buying into his work. 

A fool and his money...

[Black Apple Art]

Sept 10, 2015 22:30:13 GMT 1 @martedanielsen said:

An open secret in the community, only ignoramuses who had the wool pulled over their eyes by unscrupulous gallerists relating it to "street art" bought his ridiculous, irrelevant work. He's gone. Good ! The streets breathe a sigh of relief.

While @martedanielsen is 100% correct I found it amazing over the years at the number and vast spectrum of customers / companies that were duped by this. 

[samfrost]

Amazed that it took so long as well. His brother "manages" his career and has sold so much junk out west, not to mention fleabay. Zero talent and all hype.

[dreadnatty]

Sept 10, 2015 23:14:56 GMT 1 Black Apple Art said:

Sept 10, 2015 22:30:13 GMT 1 @martedanielsen said:

An open secret in the community, only ignoramuses who had the wool pulled over their eyes by unscrupulous gallerists relating it to "street art" bought his ridiculous, irrelevant work. He's gone. Good ! The streets breathe a sigh of relief.

While @martedanielsen is 100% correct I found it amazing over the years at the number and vast spectrum of customers / companies that were duped by this. 

There is no end of 'stupid' money out there.

[Black Apple Art]

Sept 10, 2015 23:18:56 GMT 1 samfrost said:

Amazed that it took so long as well. His brother "manages" his career and has sold so much junk out west, not to mention fleabay. Zero talent and all hype.

With the vast amount of gullible customers he had it wouldn't surprize me if this was somehow spun in his favor. Truly horrible and to be honest discovering he didn't make the work really doesn't make it any worse than it already was. This Mike actually seems like an ok guy and you can be sure he'd never be caught dead in a shot like this...

[11]

Alec will no doubt take his work in a 'new direction' and either have a go at something himself or just buy a new artist signed under a much more restrictive contract

[rebelate]

Funny thing is...I first found out about this about 2.5 years ago. I found it baffling how it had lasted that long to begin with, and I constantly got amazed that it hadn't been "leaked" since then. But I guess it's better that he got outed by Mike instead of leaked by a third party when Mike and Alec were still in bed with each other.

[rebelate]

@martedanielsen I wish we could breath a sigh of relief however until it catches momentum and gets written up or covered by hype beast, juxtapose, tmz, etc it won't make too much of an effect on Alec.  

[Deleted]

I always wondered why there were never any live videos or anything at all showing Alec "at work" while painting, stenciling, etc. Especially considering his IG presence and IG's use of videos as a common tool/medium. Doesn't surprise me at all as I always wondered why a narcissist such as Alec wouldn't want to show off his skills to his adoring IG fans. Well, guess he didn't have any skills except the skill to create a personality and hype his work. What a joke...

[cmodart]

There are nearly 1,400 of Damien Hirst's "spot" paintings in existence.

The artist has only painted around 25 of them himself.

So who made the other 1,340 or so paintings, which regularly sell for tens of thousands of dollars?



Read more: www.businessinsider.com/why-damien-hirst-is-controversial-2013-6#ixzz3lOexEDYH

[cmodart]

Not remotely defending monopoly. I don't care at all. Just drawing the comparison.

[WOOF]

I think the difference is that no one thinks Hirst was painting all those circles. Unless I'm the only one that didn't think that.

[Whitefish]

This meltdown will be epic

[Deleted]

Never heard of Mike Mozart, is he well known for something else? For that matter I've only come across this Monopoly art thing once at a Graffik gallery show and there was no chance I was going to part with any of my hard earned for that tripe.

[Stopki]

I think every one that brought his shite - doesn't give a damn - they were just told to buy it by some gallery that peddles all types of this shite street art -

Good riddance - this collection of artists ( under the loose label street art) needs to be reduced to the good artists - rest should get proper jobs

[Whitefish]

Alec is now attempting to crush Mike with his bankroll. Lets put a stop to this little douchebag once and for all.

[bgt5002]

I think he may have a go at Alec and Forever 21 if he feels he's owed money.

[Black Apple Art]

Sept 11, 2015 18:45:25 GMT 1 Whitefish said:

Alec is now attempting to crush Mike with his bankroll. Lets put a stop to this little douchebag once and for all.

This feud has been off the radar and needs to get some minimal coverage to get it out there. Seems like a perfect story for Artnet for starters. 

[Whitefish]

Sept 11, 2015 18:59:58 GMT 1 bgt5002 said:

I think he may have a go at Alec and Forever 21 if he feels he's owed money.

He doesn't care about the $$.  He was doing Alec a favor by helping him start an art career,  then to be exploited and backstabbed...  As we speak Alec Monolopy is throwing mounds of cash at his to make it go away.  Hopefully they will not be able to silence Mike. 

[bgt5002]

Sept 11, 2015 19:09:39 GMT 1 Whitefish said:

Sept 11, 2015 18:59:58 GMT 1 bgt5002 said:

I think he may have a go at Alec and Forever 21 if he feels he's owed money.

He doesn't care about the $$.  He was doing Alec a favor by helping him start an art career,  then to be exploited and backstabbed...  As we speak Alec Monolopy is throwing mounds of cash at his to make it go away.  Hopefully they will not be able to silence Mike. 

Well, an easy way to receive vindication in that is financially. Killing two birds with one stone, both in the court of public opinion/eroding Alec's credibility, and sending a message to others that you should get your shit together before partnering with frauds.

[rebelate]

Sept 11, 2015 19:10:06 GMT 1 Whitefish said:

I sent TMZ an email this morning LOL

My friend is one of the girls on the show, sent it to her via Facebook yesterday lmao 

[rebelate]

Sept 11, 2015 19:17:20 GMT 1 bgt5002 said:

Sept 11, 2015 19:09:39 GMT 1 Whitefish said:

He doesn't care about the $$.  He was doing Alec a favor by helping him start an art career,  then to be exploited and backstabbed...  As we speak Alec Monolopy is throwing mounds of cash at his to make it go away.  Hopefully they will not be able to silence Mike. 

Well, an easy way to receive vindication in that is financially. Killing two birds with one stone, both in the court of public opinion/eroding Alec's credibility, and sending a message to others that you should get your s**t together before partnering with frauds.

I've spoken to Alec's entourage, manager, and attorney.... The common theme is "inexperience".  Even if you did have a work for hire agreement, it comes hand in hand with a non-disclosure and non-compete clause. But it was a huge mistake by management to not think of that.  If I were Alec I would throw at least half my F21 deal to him and put him on salary for the rest of his life while making sure he signs a NDA and Non-compete.  But I think when egos get as large as Alec's and his team's they convince themselves that they are on top of the world. 

[Drymounted]

Glad to see some movement with words going out to the press...I am not much for Schadenfreude, but to not see any bit of remorse, astounds me. I guess that happens when a person feels everything can be bought and paid for. Sadly in this American Culture, people worship individuals with excess, and lack of tact.

[Dr Plip]

What a pathetic episode. Too many parasites around these days. All style and no substance.

[Dr Plip]

"I could knock out designs so quickly, I wasn't paying attention! I did all my Forever 21 drawings for Alec Monopoly's line in just one night!"

Brilliant.

[bjornca]

Sept 11, 2015 19:42:50 GMT 1 rebelate said:

I've spoken to Alec's entourage, manager, and attorney.... The common theme is "inexperience".  Even if you did have a work for hire agreement, it comes hand in hand with a non-disclosure and non-compete clause. But it was a huge mistake by management to not think of that.  If I were Alec I would throw at least half my F21 deal to him and put him on salary for the rest of his life while making sure he signs a NDA and Non-compete.  But I think when egos get as large as Alec's and his team's they convince themselves that they are on top of the world. 

Certain states don't look favorable on non-competes (including California), however, pretty amatuer for them not to have a NDA in place, with a perpetual term and specific damages clauses. Curious to see how this plays out with his market (not that I am or will be a collector of his work anyway).

[Howard Johnson]

Sept 11, 2015 4:22:57 GMT 1 cmodart said:

There are nearly 1,400 of Damien Hirst's "spot" paintings in existence.

The artist has only painted around 25 of them himself.

So who made the other 1,340 or so paintings, which regularly sell for tens of thousands of dollars?

I thought the exact same thing when I heard about this scandal. The main difference is that while Hirst, Koons, or MBW may not actually execute the physical works, they act as an artistic director and create the concept and oversee execution (ideally anyways). This is sort of the opposite, where the artist does not create the idea but instead literally adapts the work of another. I've never been too dissuaded by the factory artist archetype as, IMHO, they still are the creative force behind the work regardless of who actually executes it. In contrast, Alec didn't even create the ideas, images, or composition of these lame ass monopoly man images.