STAMFORD — A judge has ruled that the artist who helped place a steel sculpture of a bent drug spoon at Purdue Pharma’s Connecticut headquarters can get the artwork back.
A judge signed an order Monday that Boston-based artist Domenic Esposito can retrieve the sculpture from Stamford police, saying the process could take days.
Esposito and art gallery owner Fernando Luis Alvarez put the 11-foot-long sculpture in front of the company’s Stamford headquarters June 22. The nearly 800-pound work symbolizes spoons used by drug abusers.
Esposito says he was inspired by his brother’s struggle with drug addiction.
Esposito released the following statement:
“We are excited to get the spoon back today after being locked-up since June 22nd the day it was dropped at Purdue
Pharma’s headquarters as part of the Opioid:express yourself show! at the Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery. I am honored to now be part of these group of artists who together with myself are using art to record history.”
Alvarez is facing charges of obstruction of free passage and interfering with police.
Purdue Pharma has previously denied allegations that its marketing of the painkiller OxyContin contributed to the opioid crisis.
