Artist took £58k and gave museum blank canvases called ‘Take The Money And Run’

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    An artist has been told to hand back £58,000 after ­giving a museum two blank canvases he named Take The Money And Run.

    Jens Haaning, 58, was loaned the cash by gallery bosses to embed in the artwork as a statement on salaries.

    But instead he handed them the plain canvases, which he called a "conceptual" work. The Kunsten Museum demanded the cash back – but he refused. Now a court has told him to return it.

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    Jens said: "The work is that I have taken their money. It has been good for my work, but it also puts me in an unmanageable situation where I don't really know what to do."

    He claimed the museum in Aalborg, Denmark, had made "much, much more" money than it invested thanks to the publicity. The museum displayed the blank canvases until January 2022, when it expected the funds returned.

    Director Lasse Andersson said: "I had a laugh because it was really humoristic."

    Jens, from Copenhagen, was expected to recreate some of his old artwork featuring banknotes.

    A civil lawsuit was brought against him after he breached his deal by not giving back the cash. Jens has been given 14 days to pay the museum back, minus the artist's fee and the mounting cost.

    He claims he cannot ­afford to. He has four weeks to ­appeal the decision but revealed he does not plan to do so. Speaking after the canvases were revealed for the first time, he said: "It's not theft. It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work."

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