Legally, the city of Wichita still hasn’t made the case as to its rightful ownership of James Rosati’s sculpture “Upright Form V,” part of which was mistakenly sold to Matthew Cuellar at a 2004 surplus auction. The painful bottom line, as ruled by the Kansas Court of Appeals in upholding a District Court decision: “Although the bargain is a bad one for the city, it was caused chiefly by its own negligence.” That’s true. But it’s also true that in sticking it to the city — by paying $275 for a sculpture that could be worth $30,000 — Cuellar and partner Jason Rogers are sticking it to their fellow citizens. That stinks.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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27 Comments
He won the auction fair and square.
I don’t think they are sticking it to their fellow citizens. The city already did that themselves when they commissioned $30,000 to some lawn art.
Instead of pointing the finger at Cuellar, why not figure out how the city could have been so stupid and make sure it doesnt happen again?
Perhaps the city manager and city arts director were too busy trying to fire hundreds of UNPAID VOLUNTEERS at Old Cow Town to notice this gaffe, another in a long line of similar screw-ups.
“…paying $275 for a sculpture that could be worth $30,000…” stinks? If he had bought it at auction for $28,000 under the exact same circumstances no one would be upset. The folks that are upset about this would not be upset, if Cuellar had not gotten such a good deal. That means that they are upset about the amount of profit (potential) he made on the sculpture purchase.
Capitalism is one of America’s core and defining features, and capitalism is based upon goods changing hands in a free market, and an auction is a free market in its most basic form. Therefore, if we are upset at Cuellar for getting too good of a deal when purchasing something from society overall, as represented by the city, we are upset about the affect of captialism. If we are upset about capitalism we are upset about one of America’s core, defining values. Therefore anyone who is upset at Cuellar for his purchase of the Rosati sculpture for $275 is unAmerican (or something like that.)
Of course this should make the city more careful in future auctions. But the actions of Cuellar in this matter are despicable.
And Mr.Cuellar if you are reading this, let me say it to you personally. ( I’ll say it to your face if you care to make the arrangements.) You sir, are despicable.
It is not as if you have stumbled on a bargain at the expense of some greedy corporation or business enterprise . YOU sir, are STEALING financially and culturally from your community for your own personal gain and fame. In a better world (country?) you would be ashamed of yourself.
Give the guy a break. He bought the sculpture fair and squate. He abided by the rules of the auction. The responsibility for this fiasco lies at the feet of the city employee in charge of the auction or warehouse that this sculpture was being stored.
Instead of dealing with their loss as it was, the city chose to add yet more costs to go to court. Now wasn’t that a brainy thing to do?
Chalk this one up to a lesson learned. I think Cuellar should go on the KPTS Antique Road Show and tell his story. Now that would be funny entertainment.
Well nobody got killed no wmd in the sculpture it was a one time event no foreign countries were invaded nobody had their job outsourced off shored nobody homeless because of it. Nobody’s sealed medical records were opened.The tooth fairy and Santa Claus are still alive. Somebody should get a stern reprimand other than that no big deal.
“when they commissioned $30,000 to some lawn art.”
And if you like that, you’re going to LOVE the new arena I hear they’re building.
How much tax money was squandered by the City fighting this thing? They should dock the pay of everyone responsible.
More power to him. This city is run by morons.
The Waterwalk and the Downtown Arena will cost so much more that a few pieces of steel and aluminum. And we’ll ALL HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM.
The fact that the city EVER spent that much on a piece of outdoor art, and not a homeless shelter is the real shame here.
Let’s try and keep our eye on the ball, shall we folks?
About the WaterWalk – when will we see some PRIVATE investment in this Communist venture?
Kudos to Matthew Cuellar and Jason Rogers, the city did not care about it.They took it apart, stored it away and forgot about it, so it must not have been valuable to them at that time.
JR, I cannot believe the narrowmindedness of your post. He bought the sculpture at an auction where anyone could have bid, for goodness sake!
If he had paid $3000 for a city vehicle at the auction, but the vehicle could be resold for $5000 would you say he was “despicable”? Rhonda Holman, would he be “sticking it to…fellow citizens” in that case?
I challenge any of you, especially JR and Rhonda Holman, to try to tell me at what point buying something that you can resale for more than you paid for it goes from getting a good deal to being a deplorable act.
Todd,For once, we agree on something :)
Yep…someone at the City made a mistake. The way people are carrying on here, there must be some perfect people on this blog that never make a mistake.
Human error, and one guy benefitted. Non-story…time to move on.
Foley thread please.
I think they need some basic civics lessons over at WE. The government and the people are not the same thing.
JR,I hate to say it, bro, but one man’s rant is another man’s chuckle.
Well laugh if you like. That guy Cuellar is nothing more than an opportunist at the expense of the community.
The analogy by brian to a city vehicle auction is flawed. Vehicles sold by the city are “as is” and frequently in need of repair. Any potential resale value in them involves investment on the part of the buyer. What Cuellar bought was in no need of repair.
Again, I would have no problem with this if Cuellar had found this at a flea market or art auction or business fire sale. But what HE has done is taken community cultural and financial property for his own gain.
I bet he is a Republican.
Which makes any other bidders that made bids lower than Cuellar, what, commies?
Sheesh, JR, the guy gave a bid and won. With one that low, and it being the winning bid, not much was thought of the sculpture, it seems, by anybody. So what is its real worth? Art is fleeting: its true cost nowhere near marks it market price. This time, the art stunk, and got skunk prices. Blame the city, blame the buyer, blame the stars. It happened: get over it.
JR, from your comments, I thought you were a Republican
I don’t know how much stainless steel costs per pound, but I’d say the city got ripped off.
The only one at fault here is the city. They messed up when they bought some metal worth $30,000 that does not look like anything a 5 year old couldn’t assemble and they messed up again when they sold it. Put the blame where it belongs.
Just when I think the city can’t do anything dumber, they go and do something like this and redeem themselves. /sarcasm off
How many pieces of crap sculpture that someone called art has the city overpaid for? The guy bought this scrap metal at auction.
People say he should give the city a break…why? How many of you get a break on your property tax? If the city wants it back and doesn’t want to pay his price…too bad.
The real problem here is that the ill treatment of Rosati and his sculpture will insure that any other name artist will certainly think twice before selling or donating a work to this city.