Adam West shifts from playing Batman to painting him

It is verging on half a century since Adam West first donned that iconic suit and garnered international fame for his role as Batman in the eponymous 1960s television series and film. Yet, in the ensuing years, it seems the caped crusader has never been far from his mind.

The actor has for many years now, been privately working on a collection of paintings and drawings with Bruce Wayne and his alter ego as the muse. This much-anticipated work is now on public display at an art gallery in Beverly Hills. He has long been credited with bringing the comic book character to life, but now West, who is pretty spritely for his 82 years, is being heralded as a "cultural pop art expressionist" by the gallery owner David W Streets.

The exhibition is certainly generating a level of audible buzz, particularly among die-hard Batman aficionados. The art on show is said to depict West's various visions of Batman and the dystopian Gotham City. Among other pieces, it includes The Birth of Batman, a surrealist painting charting Bruce Wayne's metamorphosis from young orphan to self-styled crime avenger. While it remains to be seen what sort of prices these paintings will fetch, one thing is for sure: Adam West is a content man. Not only is he revelling in this new career direction, he also arrived at the gallery opening in style. After all, not many people can claim to have driven the original Batmobile.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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