No takers for Madoff

Bernard Madoff's face has been plastered on magazine covers and in newspapers, but artist Yan Pei-Ming has taken the confessed Ponzi schemer's image one step further. He painted it on a 60-inch-by-90-inch canvas, but nobody seems interested in buying the painting. At New York's Armory Show, an annual event showcasing new works by international artists, held March 5 to March 8, the large black-and-white watercolor of Mr. Madoff's face drew attention, but not from anyone willing to pay the $100,000 asking price. New York gallery owner David Zwirner showcased Mr. Yan's portrait, which was painted specifically for the Armory Show. "It has caused quite the stir," said gallery spokeswoman Julia Joern. "Apparently, people cannot separate the painting from the subject; Madoff is that loathed." Mr. Yan became famous in the art world for taking iconic images of the Mona Lisa, the Pope and President Obama and re-imagining them into distorted monochromatic portraits. He is now showing works at the Louvre Museum in Paris. "Madoff is an embodiment of the financial system and its problems, the villain of the financial world," Mr. Yan wrote in an e-mail. "When I painted it, I also thought of the people who have lost a lot because of him; this portrait shows a kind of state of the world nowadays."