Brazilian police investigating the homicide of Brent Sikkema, a distinguished New York artwork seller who was found stabbed to death last month in his Rio de Janeiro condo, at the moment are looking for the arrest of his husband, Daniel Sikkema.
It was a stunning twist in a case that has captivated the artwork world. Brent Sikkema represented quite a lot of main modern artists, and his gallery was getting ready to assist considered one of them, Jeffrey Gibson, symbolize the US this spring on the Venice Biennale, essentially the most prestigious exhibition on the earth.
A lawyer for Daniel Sikkema, Fabiana Marques, stated that he was harmless and that he remained in New York, the place he was “shocked” by the newest improvement.
When Brent Sikkema was discovered slain in Rio, investigators stated that at the very least $40,000 had been stolen. After recovering surveillance footage that they stated confirmed his former bodyguard, a 30-year-old man named Alejandro Triana Prevez, coming into and exiting the house, they took Mr. Prevez into custody about 600 miles northwest of the town. (The police initially recognized Mr. Prevez with the surname Trevez.)
A lawyer for Mr. Prevez, Gregorio Andrade, stated that Mr. Prevez claims that Daniel Sikkema had provided him $200,000 to hold out the assassination. “He manipulated my consumer,” Mr. Andrade stated.
The Sikkemas have been married for almost 15 years however have been locked in divorce proceedings since 2022, which included a struggle over the custody phrases of their son, who’s now 13.
Daniel Sikkema’s lawyer, Ms. Marques, stated her consumer was harmless of the homicide. “It’s necessary to notice that Daniel was not given a possibility to be heard by police, regardless of proactively providing himself for questioning by way of e-mail,” she stated.
She questioned Mr. Prevez’s account. “Alejandro’s technique of accusing somebody of being the mastermind behind the crime, particularly whereas being flanked by his attorneys, clearly goals at securing a extra lenient sentence,” she argued.
It was uncommon to see Daniel Sikkema on the openings and closings of the exhibitions his husband staged, in response to buddies of the artwork seller. He emigrated to the US after a troublesome childhood in Cuba and an early maturity working as a male escort in Spain. He chronicled that journey in a 2006 autobiography known as “Ticket to Paradise,” which described how he escaped the island and made a residing.
On a night shortly after Brent Sikkema was discovered useless, Daniel Sikkema posted {a photograph} of a black rose on social media, the place he goes by his beginning title, Daniel García Carrera. He later wrote a brief publish in Spanish to precise his grief. “Our son and I cry for you with out tears, we cry for you in the way in which that hurts essentially the most,” he stated.
Mates of the artwork seller have continued to mourn his loss of life.
“His coronary heart was within the artwork,” stated Arlene Shechet, an artist who was represented by Brent Sikkema’s gallery, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., for a number of years. “Being a businessman was by no means his inspiration.”
The previous high editor of Artforum, David Velasco, had turn into near Brent Sikkema, and was planning to go to the seller in Rio when he discovered of the homicide.
“He was a pal and in some methods a father determine,” Mr. Velasco stated. “I bear in mind seeing him and Daniel after the beginning of their son. They have been over the moon.”
“Each a part of this,” Mr. Velasco stated, “is so heartbreaking.”
Ana Ionova contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.
