Ibrahim Mahama Countersues Simchowitz, Ellis King

Apparently the Kumbaya moment was short-lived.

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in California against dealers Stefan Simchowitz and Jonathan Ellis King, who served the artist with a lawsuit last year.

The lawsuit alleges infringement of Mahama’s right under the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act, and is a countersuit to legal action taken by Simchowitz and Ellis King, filed in June 2015, that alleges that Mahama’s effort to disown work he sold to the defendants for $150,000 could cost them $4.45 million—the total price the dealers believe they can sell the almost 300 works for.

The new suit filed by Mahama claims that he insisted that the work not be sold part and parcel, but as a complete work.

Tags: Art Law, Ellis King, Ibrahim Mahama, lawsuit, sacks, sculpture, stefan simchowitz, VARA