Arts center official defends legitimacy of Quinn exhibit

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

The controversy surrounding an upcoming benefit for the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center has been overblown, center president Donald Kemp said Monday.

Although two men convicted of selling fake pieces of art in 1990 are involved in the Anthony Quinn Art Exhibit and Sale, the actor will be on hand to sell his own pieces, Kemp said.

"Those men will not be involved in the sales," Kemp said. "They just happen to be friends of Anthony Quinn and have represented his work in the past. They are not putting this event on. We are. Mr. Quinn is selling his own artwork, so there is no possibility for anything that is not above board to happen."

Quinn's art collection is scheduled to be presented at a champagne reception Oct. 21 at the Tradewinds Ballroom of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. The event will be held from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Kemp said it is his understanding that William Mett and Marvin Wiseman are helping Quinn prepare for the event and will assist him in transporting the art.

Mett and Wiseman were convicted in Hawaii in 1990 on federal fraud charges after selling more than $3.5 million worth of fake lithographs, most of which were supposed to be the work of Salvador Dali, said Leslie E. Osborne Jr., an assistant U.S. Attorney in Hawaii. The men also sold works purportedly done by Quinn, Red Skelton and Tony Curtis.

Osborne said the pair would sell the works to unsuspecting tourists.

"One year later the tourists would receive a letter saying that the work they had purchased was now worth $15,000 instead of the $1,500 they had paid for it," Osborne said.

The letter would then encourage the buyer to purchase a "recently released" piece of art by the same artist that was sure to appreciate even faster than the last one, Osborne said.

It was only when the buyer went to sell the artwork that they discovered they had been bilked, Osborne said.

Mett served about three years in prison and Wiseman served two and one half years, Osborne said. They were released in 1997.

Mett has a nonpublished phone number in Hawaii. There was no phone listing for Wiseman.

Osborne said Quinn testified via videotape on behalf of the men.

Kemp said Quinn told him that he believes the men unknowingly purchased fake artwork and then became the victims of "over-zealous" prosecutors.

Regardless, Kemp said, the men will have nothing to do with sales at the event.

"Mr. Quinn is selling is own original works of art and that's as legitimate as legitimate can get," Kemp said.

In a letter faxed to the Las Vegas Sun Monday night, Quinn said he wanted to put the record straight.

"Two of the many people in my large organization had problems years ago. I believed in them then and supported them and still do," Quinn wrote. "Please don't use my loyalty to two old friends to try to injure worthy local charities and the thousands of good Las Vegas people who depend on them."

Tickets to the event are $100 and 10 percent of the money earned from the sale of Quinn's artwork will go to the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center, Kemp said.

The Las Vegas Performing Arts Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a performing arts center within the next decade, Kemp said.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 457-7919.

During the reception, Quinn will be presented with the Golden Dragon Award for Outstanding International Cultural Achievement from the Hong Kong Writers and Artists Association and the Inaugural Award for Lifetime Achievement in Entertain and the Arts from the performing arts center.

Collectors will be invited to a private dinner with Quinn and can get an autographed photo of themselves with Quinn and their newly acquired artwork.