The art dealer who once sued the mega-collector owner of his gallery in an attempt to terminate his lease brought his real estate-related anger to the tip of Long Island. Adam Lindemann, the founder of New York gallery Venus Over Manhattan, who earned more than $30 million from a Christie’s auction of three dozen works from his private collection in March, was arrested in the Hamptons on July 5 for trespassing and harassment after he allegedly paid an unwanted visit to fellow dealer Max Levai and shoved him “in the chest with both hands”, according to a police report. Seems he was crazy about Levai’s zoning violations.
THE the story surfaced this week courtesy of Artnet News Journalist Annie Armstrong, whose interview with Lindemann’s attorney, Edward Burke Jr., revealed both the victim and the possible motive for the explosion. “Mr. Levai apparently has several issues with the City of East Hampton related to zoning code violations,” Burke told the outlet.
Levai’s zoning infractions likely stem from a dispute over a drainage system at his horse farm and art space, the ranchand the health of a nearby wetland, which has been recently reported In The East Hampton Star. Levai (son of art dealer Pierre Levai, formerly of the Marlborough Gallery) bought the ranch in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, around the same time Lindemann was suing its owner. The plot had previously been the site of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders bands, parties with Andy Warhol — coincidentally, Lindemann owns Warhol’s neighboring Eothen estate, which he tried and failed to sell in 2020 — and concerts by Billy Joel and James Brown, Levai said. Ocula in March.
According Artnet News, Lindemann failed to show up for his July 19 court date, sending Burke in his place to ask that the trial be moved. Burke told the outlet that Lindemann intends to plead not guilty. “These accusations are absurd,” he said. “My client has been to the Ranch several times since it opened three years ago.”
