‘Pastor’ Guilty of Selling Art Forgeries

By LAURA D’ANGELO

A Florida pastor was found guilty Tuesday by a Manhattan State Supreme Court jury for attempting to sell fraudulent artwork.

Kevin Sutherland, 46, was convicted of attempted grand larceny in the second degree for passing off fake paintings to be the work of British artist Damien Hirst.

Sutherland attempted in January 2013 to sell fake “dot and spin” artworks, in the style of Hirst, to an undercover officer for $185,000, the indictment alleged. This was after being made aware that the artwork was fake by Sotheby’s auction house. Sutherland attempted to sell one of the paintings, obtained from an unknown forger, to Sotheby’s and the auction house later discovered that the work was fake and alerted Sutherland.

Hirst, a British artist and 1995 Turner prize winner, is a conceptual and installation artist as well as a painter, whose themes often surround death and the spot-style theme such as those that were forged for Sutherland to sell.

As the jury deliberated on Tuesday, Sutherland sat in the courtroom quietly slouched over, with wife Shari at his side.

Sutherland is a pastor at the Mosaic Miami Church, a nondenominational church in Miami, which he and his wife founded.

Sutherland faces up to seven years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for May 19. He is out on $100,000 bail.