The Picasso vandal, who stenciled over the 1929 piece entitled Woman in a Red Armchair and has since left the country will have his first solo gallery show, in Houston.
In spite of the widespread anger, the owner of Cueto James Art Gallery, James Perez, anticipates the gallery will be filled on Friday for the opening of Picasso Vandal, Uriel Landeros’ show, the Associated Press reports .
The gallery has a limited guest list of 100, houston.culturemap.com reports .
According to Perez, the Picasso Vandal is considered to be a genius:
“I was one of the first people to congratulate Uriel on Facebook after the incident and I’m proud to represent him. It was a ballsy thing he did and I think he kind of started something. Just look at what happen to that Rothko over the weekend . . . I think he’s a genius, but he’s not always well-spoken about what he’s done. Hopefully, I can do that for him.”
Landeros has been charged with felony graffiti in addition to felony criminal mischief for the alleged defacing of the painting.
On June 13, a YouTube video was posted showing a man spray painting “Woman in a Red Armchair” with a stencil at Houston’s Menil Collection on June 13.
Landeros stenciled an image of a bullfighter with a bull, and the word “conquista,” which translates to conquest. He is now in Mexico and has been communicating with Perez via Skype.
The Picasso vandal will speak to audience members at the gallery on Friday via Skype, Perez said. Until that night, Landeros will not speak to the media.
Donna Hawkins, the assistant district attorney in Harris County said Landeros faces a prison sentence of two to ten years and a $10,000 fine.
