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If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
Earlier this week, performance artist Marina Abramovic shared with Spike magazine that she felt “used” following her involvement in Jay Z’s 2013 “Picasso Baby” art presentation. As you may recall, Abramovic allowed Jay to adapt her “The Artist Is Present” exhibition under the condition that he support the Marina Abramovic Institute, which she claims he did not. Instead, she called the partnership a “one-way transaction.”
“The day before, he came to my office and I gave him an entire PowerPoint presentation and said, ‘Okay, you can help me, because I really need help to build this thing,” the 68-year-old told the magazine. “Then he just completely used me. And that wasn’t fair. This is very different from Lady Gaga, for example, who has done great work for me. Just by having 45 million followers, she brought all these young kids into my public.”
However, it seems that there’s a bit of miscommunication or some funny business going on at Abramovic’s New York institute because shortly after news of Abramovic’s allegations began to spread, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, who directed the music presentation, came forward with actual receipts and a “thank you” note proving that the Brooklyn rapper made a generous donation to Abramovic’s institute. art net News explains:
“Thank you for your donation,” says a receipt from the Hudson, New York institute, according to New York dealer and “Picasso Baby” video producer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn of Salon 94, who read parts of the document to artnet News over the phone Wednesday morning.
After all of that, Abramovic’s institute could do nothing but apologize.
“Marina Abramovic was not informed of Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter’s donation from two years ago when she recently did an interview with Spike Magazine in Brazil,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We are sincerely sorry to both Marina Abramovic and Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter for this, and since then we have taken to appropriate actions to reconcile this matter.”
Glad Jay was able to clear his name.
Thoughts?
