Two years after Harris County approved an agreement with a private firm to display a dozen “wooden/bronze sculptures/statues” in Precinct 1 facilities, more than 1,200 pieces of African art sit in a county warehouse amid questions regarding the collection’s ownership and the use of taxpayer dollars to store and secure it.
The provenance, ownership and value of the artworks remain a mystery the county attorney’s office is attempting to unravel. Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, meanwhile, hopes to secure an agreement to legally borrow the art and display it in county buildings.
That could expose Harris County to legal action unless the county can determine the art’s rightful owners, Assistant County Attorney Melissa Spinks said Monday. A pair of investigators interviewed Sam Njunuri, the man who claimed ownership of the art, but he was unable to provide any supporting documentation, she said.
“He was a very nice guy, but he has no records. He couldn’t tell us anything,” Spinks said. “We are no further along at being confident as to who the legal owner is.”
Spinks said Njunuri has stopped returning investigators’ phone calls.
His refusal to cooperate leaves Harris County in a quandary with a 5,000-square-foot warehouse filled with 1,267 and artworks — many more than six feet tall — that cannot be returned to an owner nor put to public use. The county attorney’s office has asked Precinct 1 to secure the site and ensure no pieces are moved. Another 140 pieces remain on display in Precinct 1 facilities, according to Ellis spokeswoman Maureen Haver.
“As you can imagine, we are not art experts,” Spinks said. “We don’t know if we’re dealing with stuff that belongs in a museum or belongs at a flea market.”
Deal to display art
News of the stored art first was reported by KPRC Channel 2 earlier this month.
According to court records, Ellis persuaded his Commissioners Court colleagues in 2018 to approve an agreement with a business called African Art Global to display 12 “wooden/bronze sculptures/statues” for free as part of the precinct’s public art program.
Haver last week said the commissioner met the company’s owner, Njunuri, in 2017, and the men share a deep appreciation for African art. Ellis’ staff said his sister-in-law, Angele Johnson, is a board member with African Art Global, but does not have a financial stake in the firm.
Haver said Ellis’s public art director recently left his office, while Precinct 1 continued to accept pieces for display, resulting in a high volume of art being stored.
“It was Precinct 1’s understanding that the paperwork had been updated to reflect this,” Haver said in a statement. “We recently learned that’s not the case, and we’ve been working with the county attorney’s office to complete the necessary updates.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack said the 2018 agreement was about displaying art in public buildings, not providing storage space to a private dealer.
“I don’t think we ever agreed to anything being stored in a warehouse,” Radack said.
The agreement with African Art Global expired Jan. 30, depriving the county of any legal right to possess the art. Ellis has proposed a new, four-year agreement, which does not specify a number of artworks. On Feb. 11, however, he referred the item to the county attorney for review before a vote.
The new proposal, like the original, relies on African Art Global’s claim to be the sole legal owner of the art works. First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said his office has yet to determine if that is accurate. Precinct 1 likewise was non-committal last week.
“Sam Njunuri… told Precinct 1 he owned the artwork,” Haver said in an emailed response to questions about the art stored in the warehouse.
Haver declined to share an inventory Precinct 1 sent to the county attorney. Spinks said that record included photographs of pieces, but no documentation of ownership. Spinks said Njunuri volunteered in an interview he also has art stored in Austin, La Grange, Philadelphia and Georgia, but was unable to provide receipts or bills of sale for any of it.
Attempts to reach Njunuri and Johnson on Monday were unsuccessful. African Art Global does not appear to have a physical office, phone number or website.
Spinks said she understood the warehouse previously was used to store recreation supplies. Access to the site is restricted by a secure gate and the warehouse has wooden barn doors that “look pretty new,” she said. Inside, the art sits inside metal cages and is monitored by cameras overhead. Spinks said she was was unsure when the beefed-up security measures were added.
Ellis’s passion
Ellis long has had an interest in celebrating African-American history and culture. He was instrumental in creating a memorial in downtown Houston for four lynching victims and supported the creation of a board to advise the county on how to preserve black heritage.
He also has tapped his campaign account to purchase African art to display, an unusual though permissible use of political donations under Texas law.
The stored art became became a campaign issue Monday when Maria Jackson, Ellis’s opponent in the March 3 Democratic primary, said in a news release that the arrangement was an example of corruption.
“Ellis is storing unauthorized pieces of priceless works of art in a county-owned facility at the expense of Harris County taxpayers,” Jackson wrote.
Jackson did not respond to questions asking her to provide evidence supporting her claims. The Ellis campaign dismissed the allegations.
“It’s a completely false statement by a failing political candidate propped up by bail bondsmen and Republicans,” campaign consultant Grant Martin said. “The art is part of a broader public art program that has already brought art into Precinct One communities.”
