lol, RICHARD PRINCE . . the Grandaddy of ‘Real Fake’ – jumps on the media bandwagon !!
the ‘Artist-as-thief’ media wave . . that swept over the local scene last week, via ALFREDO MARTINEZ & created by Yours Truly / artloversnewyork.
“I sometimes spend more time in my lawyer’s office than in my studio” . . RICHARD PRINCE,
all illuminating quote . . in this morning’s NEW YORK POST article, titled: This artist is making mega-millions ‘stealing people’s work’
written by MICHAEL KAPLAN & posted today. September 17, 2017 / 10:41am
read: ‘This artist is Making Millions . . NEW YORK POST
RICHARD PRINCE: GRANDAD of COPYRIGHT THEFT / NEW YORK POST
RICHARD PRINCE lifts iconic KIM GORDON, of SONIC YOUTH photo – straight off Instagram / NEW YORK POST
what, everybody wanna-be . . Alfredo ?
underground street cred and all.
haha, listen up . . .
ALFREDO wanna-be Richard Prince, even MORE !! . . . $$$$$ !!!
let’s . . turn the tables: anybody with $5 grand, $3 grand ? $2 grand ?
in your pocket !!
buy . . a ‘THE REAL FAKE’ Basquiat by ALFREDO MARTINEZ !!
at least he does them by hand, his . . own.
Spin, spin.
Bubble & burn / sell that underground fringe art / the only 100% real stuff – in NYC right now.
FOR SALES: CONTACT PAUL NAVARRO / paulnavarrosye@gmail.com / Artist Rep
~RICHARD PRINCE . . the Grandaddy of ‘Real Fake’ – jumps on the bandwagon !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 17th, 2017, 11:07am
SIMON CERIGO, RIP . . 1952-2013
was funny. he wasn’t a forger like Alfredo, but he was a real fake – in his own way.
he was kind of a pretender. aspiring to be a major player / collector / dealer . . which he actually did nail on many occasions, though he just lacked the discipline & deep pockets $$$$ to be really successful.
when what he really was . . was an incredibly vibrant, deep soul-ed & visionary artist.
if you saw ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ .. then you know he was also a pretty fake hubby, who was willing to throw me under the bus without a moment’s hesitation, when it was he – who set up the ‘taunt’.
top: Gun / watercolor painting with hand-made paper surface collage, on found cardboard pizza box, 24 x 28 in., Sept 1, 2017 . . by ALFREDO MARTINEZ aka “THE REAL FAKE” #Basquiatforger
bottom: Found painting with hand-scribbles & bits of collage, 18 x 18 in., ca. 2004 . . by SIMON CERIGO . . #underthevolcano.
it was somebody’s rather primitive, but very charming acrylic painting / canvas on wooden stretcher bars, no less. that he picked up off the street, & probably saved from the garbage dump.
this collage bit – was an Artforum ad he looked to have cut out, from a newspaper ?
that was another element of his ‘real fake’ persona.
though he constantly pooh-poohed Artforum,his whole entire life – he would have given his eye teeth to have seen his name in print on those pages, even just once.
*though JOSH HARRIS . . did get to see his name in Artforum because of some Euro-chick, who wrote up . . ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ as her top 5 . . whatever.
though quite a few years after the fact. the film, which focused on the bonafide, real time . . hardcore / underground art scene in NYC / at the time of the Millennium (Dec 1999-Jan 2000) won BEST DOCUMENTARY (USA) at SUNDANCE, in 2009, so really I don’t find that very impressive at all, re Artforum. because otherwise no mention – at all.
yeah, SO don’t get me started on Artforum.
I’d rather be entombed forever, Under The Volcano – than dead, bought & sold all the way . . in Artforum.
SIMON was into hand scribbling, before ‘rough’ or primitive / DIY hand-calligraphy was all the rage, or even . . a term. a thought. a thought bubble.
it reads: “MY MOTHER’S BEAUTY WAS MY TICKET TO THE STARS.”
that’s Simon, ca. 1990, NYC. Lower East Side. . . with our young son, Theo.
yeah, that be me . . back in Canada. in the early 1970s.
I was studying with GUIDO MOLINARI at Concordia University, in Montreal, Quebec. in the MFA in Studio Arts / Painting program.
I had a nickname back then, too. before I was artlovers, I was . . Guido-baby !!
go figure. I dunno why – people . . just like giving me labels.
guess it’s my outsider, dorky, intensity sets me apart.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~SIMON CERIGO . . the other ‘fake’ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 16th, 2017, 10:03am
GROUND CONTROL – to MAJOR TOM . . & IAN CHENG !!
after the opening, ALFREDO took me up to see his new painting HQ, a few doors down on 24th St.- in Chelsea. NYC.
in a high-rise metal & steel office building.
at first impression, it looked like a secret, mini-underground / MTA / NYC subway . . post-9-11 surveillance / command post. a hidden nuke respond command post / where the inhabitants never see the light of day. & are always on alert, and are therefore totally bored & eat bags of chips and juice. & the mess piles up. while they study the big screen. of the removed / real world.
except for the intermittent trace of tell-tale art supplies / like, a red paint lid.
well maybe they get to doodle in their (mostly) free time.
it sure did look like some kind of covert HQ / an urban guerilla . . control central, if I ever did see one. entirely fitting – to be the scene of ‘art’ crimes / forgery.
& quasi-legal gun replication.
there were at present, no 3-D gun (working, or non-working) replicas, nor any fake Basquiats . . lying about.
but, there were 3 really nice works in progress, up on the wall near the door.
the place was small, maybe 200 sq ft. / the words: illegal occupation – did come to mind.
he told me to ‘pop’ the top one down, I used a broom handle. it was pretty light, not even quite as heavy as your standard strength pizza box, maybe just a cheap flat rate, shipping box ?
or a cheap pizza – box ? have you seen them ? they sure don’t make things the way they used to.
at any rate, you can note the ‘folding-in’ – side.
standard . . 24 x 18 in. ‘light-weight’ cardboard.
as we caught up, he set about working on it, just a few finishing touches: some light blue watercolor tint.
finished . . & signed. beautiful / and, radiant.
take that – all you non-believers. and multiply by a factor of 10. 100. 1,000.
it almost looks – like ceramic ‘glaze’.
it’s . . so radiant.
and it’s so . . non-digital.
wtf. YES !!
it was signed: FNSALNYC / FOR NANCY SMITH ART LOVERS NEW YORK CITY / in front of my very own wide-open eyes.
and there it is . . . in it’s new home.
my covert HQ / in JERSEY !!
oh yeah, my ‘new’ home for about 13 yrs / my stronghold !!
in the now rapidly gentrifying, what else is new, Jersey City Heights.
tell me about it: gentrification follows me like a dark cloud. ever since I got here, NYC. in the early 80s. you could map the ‘trending’ real estate market . . just before the bubble breaks & the rents go sky-high / just by tracing my wanderings. the never-ending quest.
the never-ending NYC artist search – for survival housing.
just ask Alfredo.
his current ‘HQ’ on 24th St is super-dependent on an on-going landlord / tenant rent strike / or, rent dispute. something like that. when it’s (legally) resolved, he’ll be out, but until then – ain’t nothing the landlord can do.
here, again you can see the side of the ‘found’ 3-D cardboard box.
I guess that makes it: XX double strength.
as in . . XX REAL FAKE !!
A REAL . . . ALFREDO !!
obviously, it takes a real . . . forger to make sure his work – is unique on several fronts, where you gonna find a genuine ‘found’ box like that – down the road. likewise the patiently collaged / found scrap paper, his ‘signature’ patina / surface. & the misc stains, & the wobbly signature. let alone the ‘glow ‘of the thin paint.
just try copying – that signature !! let alone the shaky . . . intertwined, ‘AM’ logo.
likewise: the authentic grease, or is that coffee ? stains – which are always included, for free.
likewise, the uniquely Alfredo . . patiently collaged / ‘scrap’ paper pasted to the surface / an homage to the DIY paper he continues to work with, to add texture to his work.
Alfredo learnt to make paper in prison – from a old Russian gangster. the MDCC prison authorities wouldn’t give him drawing paper, so he had to make his own / from torn-out pages of old ‘lending’ books, using flour & water as paste.
he used instant coffee packets, and jello – for pigment. I think he used q-tips for brushes.
it’s that pasted-on diy paper scrap ‘collage’ – that also contributes to the ‘glaze’ quality of the watery / thin paint pigment, esp in concert with the ‘transparent’ brush strokes.
lol. I dare anybody to copy this. in fact, take it a wild step further.
I dare Basquiat to copy this / in fact, I don’t think you could turn the ‘forgery’ tables, even in your most . . wildest imagination. for one thing Basquiat wouldn’t have the patience for the DIY paste paper collage.
so, maybe only in the . . far-fetched sci-fi / time-travel movie ?
or, perhaps more likely . . a futuristic / AI non-scripted digital animation face-off . . .
‘THE REAL FAKE FORGER: BASQUIAT vs. MARTINEZ’.
in fact, I propose this as my very own . . . throw-down challenge.
to all ye next generation art world / software gamer / geeks & programmers.
& note: it might be coming, sooner than you think / AI simulated open-ended animation is already in the works.
note:IAN CHENG, ‘Emissaries’ .. at MoMA PS1 – thru SEPT 24th, 2017.
but, lol. what’s this ?
from a “REAL FAKE” . . ALFREDO MARTINEZ gun piece,
a real, FAKE FLOWER . . . grows ?????
can’t shake those . . bloody, blooming . . flowers.
great American tradition: guns & roses.
from guns . . do roses grow ?
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / SEPT 1, 2017
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . “THE REAL FAKE” / inside the NYC headquarters of the Notorious Basquiat Forger |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 14th, 2017, 1:25pm
LOL, HURRICANE ALFREDO – HITS THE EAST COAST.
ALFREDO MARTINEZ – “THE REAL FAKE” . . !!
CLOSING PARTY – TO-NITE !! THURS SEPT 7, 2017 / 6 – 10 PM
CONTRA GALLERIES, 122 W.26TH ST. 6TH FL, CHELSEA
what else is new ?
they picked up the show – and moved it a few doors over !!
everybody jumping on the rippin’ bandwagon – that is . . Alfredo.
lit . . from within, is all I can say !!
ALFREDO TAKES US ON A WILD, RADIANT RIDE . . .
& PRESENTS US WITH: AN IMAGINARY, BASQUIAT / MID-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE,
ART WORKS – UP FROM THE DEEP AUTHORITY of the REAL BASQUIAT FORGER – HIMSELF.
IMPULSE, IMPULSE, if not . . SPEAKING IN TONGUES – RASTA, CARIB ISLAND STYLE / VOO-DOO !!
NEVER FLAT, NEVER.
THIS VIBE IS SO . . JEAN-MICHEL, IT IS RADIANT CHILD V.02 ALL THE WAY.
THAT’S .. WHAT’S SO CRAZY !!
when they say, he’s the REAL Fake . . they ain’t talkin’ trash.
I’m sayin’ . .
DEFINITE, CATCH ONE !! – WHILE YOU CAN / IT’S A FEW GRAND $$ TO ALFIE – OR ELSE,
SOME VERY VERY BIG BUCKS TO THE BIG AUCTIONS – TO HAVE THE SAME VIBRANT DANCE . . OF THE INNER MIND / ON YOUR . . . WALL.
FOR SURE, IT’S LANDMARK, UNDERGROUND ART . . not, to mention – a great conversation piece, all full-on context, with bragging rights / & stories to tell.
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, ‘Untitled’, 2017 . . in “THE REAL FAKE”.
acrylic paint on cardboard with Alfredo’s signature . . DIY / HANDMADE GLUE-PASTE / COLLAGE PAPER SURFACE, 50 x 40 in.
($5,000)
“PAW” / “WILLIAM HANNA – JOSEPH BARBARA” / “OUTSMART WARRIORS” / “IMPORTED CHEESES”
what a . . joker.
clown.
tears of a clown.
“COMMON BATTLE WEAPONS” / “NORTH”
“PARTICIPATING” / “GUILT”
“THIS LAND / THIS LAND NOW IT’S IN” . . . deep shit.
“THIS LAND IS” . . .
a) FUCKED
b) BROOKLYN GLUTEN-FREE & KALE-ORGANIC NON-GMO VIBE – TAKES OVER COMPLETELY / SHUTS DOWN GIANT MALLS
c) TOO PC / FUCK APPROPRIATION / DNA MASH-UP FOREVER / RESPECT COPYRIGHT / ESP. PHOTO COPYRIGHT
d) long live KARA WALKER
e) long live PSEUDO-WLIP
f) beware AI / algorithm / cosmic creation
g) ALL OF THE ABOVE !!
note: black nanny dolls – does come to mind / slavery
“AUSTRO – RUSSIAN” . . !!
hey, I’m . . AUSTRO-RUSSIAN. before I was Canadian. before I was a maudit anglais / Leonard Cohen gen 2 Montrealaise / before I was a NEW YORKER. LOWER EAST SIDE, 1980.
I lived on Rivington St / just up a few doors from the Bowery.in a storefront. JEAN-MICHEL was my friend, we used to chat in the Bodega !! on Prince St. at Elizabeth all the time. YES, I still hear him talking to me, still. all the time. he was like my only friend, everybody else blew me off.
yeah, so many . . stories to tell. the RIP ghosts / the dead artist club.
Jean-Michel. Keith Haring. (Jack Goldstein by work only). Eddie Slater. Simon Cerigo. Dan Asher. Mark Enger of EXPL SKY / RIP all my ghosts, my beautiful ghost army.
on the right, PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO, with his dad . . PAUL-ANTHONY RODRIGUEZ.
PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO co-curated “THE REAL FAKE” – and his big story to tell, so far !!
. . is, he came up with that million bucks – title !!
his dad, Paul-Anthony, Sr . . apparently has some stories to tell, too.
at “THE REAL FAKE” opening, SEPT 1, 2017. 3Squared Gallery.
obviously, with stories to tell:
AARON OLSHAN, ALFREDO MARTINEZ & STEVE MAASS, founder of CONTRA GALLERY. . where the closing party is taking place !! to-night !!
at “THE REAL FAKE” opening, SEPT 1, 2017. 3Squared Gallery, midtown.
BYRON HUART, with stories to tell . . .
I work on the FERRY, and I make paintings of ships.
yeah, that’s how Jean-Michel rolled. he’s just roll into people. you’d meet up at a corner, he didn’t care who, what. just loved that juice. that street play. that free play. what going on in your head, tomboy girl. that street artist talk. and the stories would spill into the gritty night. no dough. nowhere to go. same old same old. used to show me his tags.
and just when it looked like it was heading up, sure enuff – it was really all just going downhill. you know. and, real fast.
lots of $$$ and real fast. you had to pick: did you want to live / or did you want to die.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . “THE REAL FAKE” / BASQUIAT – CLOSING PARTY: TO-NITE, THURS SEPT 7 / 6-10 PM |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 7th, 2017, 2:52pm
INSIDE . . the MIND of THE REAL FAKE . . BASQUIAT FORGER,
A FLOWER . . . GROWS.
ALFREDO MARTINEZ – “THE REAL FAKE”
AN IMAGINARY JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT – ‘MID-CAREER’ – RETROSPECTVE !!
BY THE REAL – BASQUAIT FORGER – ALL ARTWORK BY ALFREDO MARTINEZ
CURATED & PRODUCED BY: JESSE LAWLOR & PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO
the show runs thru SEPT 7 / with a CLOSING PARTY on THURS SEPT 7, 2017 / 7 PM – 10 PM
HRS: OPEN DAILY / 7 PM – 10 PM
3Squared Gallery, 157 W. 24th, NYC
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, ‘Untitled’, 2017 – in “THE REAL FAKE” . . BASQUIAT !!
watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 in.
($3,000)
what’s . . DEATH ?
the deal is, it actually might be harder for someone to emulate Alfredo’s work, than for ALFREDO to emulate . . . BASQUIAT’S.
what’s to emulate ?
if not to . . RADIATE ?
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, ‘Untitled’, 2017 – ‘THE REAL FAKE” BASQUIAT.
watercolor, pastel on paper. 22 x 30 in.
($3,000)
the REAL FAKE is . . ALFREDO / who can somehow channel BASQUIAT, to the point of . . there is no knowing the difference. and who got away with the forgery in real life – for a brief period of time.
and it’s not just ‘copying’ / it’s like the juice . . of the same fruit / the same fruit . . off the same tree.
ALFREDO pours on that ‘Radiant Child’ juice, 100% – no additives.
all 100% Real, FAKE . . . imagination. no re-creation here / d f straiught up foem the inside the guts, inside – out.
essence of ‘Radiant Child’ – all the way / because, when they call Basquiat the “Radiant Child” . . that’s what they are talking about: the spontaneity, the primitivism. the outsider ‘savant’. the rawness, the wild . . pureness of child-like mind thought, the free play of thinking, word association. music. history. black history. the state of the ‘art’. the state of the country. the state of the ‘artist. the radiance of color, the radiance of a drawn-out . . line. the radiance of a scribbled figure that . . yells. out to be heard as an original, radiant . . voice / painting.
well, he was also quite radiant in person, when he was young. he wqsn’t that radiant a sight to behold – after the ravages of success, drugs, HIV & the always feeding . . vampires. at some point, to choose to be with him, was to choose: death.
I guess death . . has its own kind of radiance.
a poetic, and worldy self-aware . . . art flower grew inside Basquiat, that’s for sure – & that’s the very, final definition of ‘radiance’, for sure.
Alfredo has swallowed the seed, and it grows inside him, now. too.
whether he likes it or not.
The Real fake Basquiat forger, ALFREDO MARTINEZ.
he says he is 50. don’t ever count him out, he always bounces back.
you cannot deny – the life force within.
it radiates from deep within & tumbles right back – at ya. ‘nother year / different scene.
new people.
JESSE LAWLOR and PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO – at the opening of ALFREDO MARTINEZ / “THE REAL FAKE”,
3Squared gGallery, mid-town NYC. Aug, 31, 2017.
they co-curated & co-produced the show, & it was appropriately . . & wonderfully gritty.
we have PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO – to thank for the show’s title.
he coined “THE REAL FAKE” / and he was . . right-on.
so, have you been noticing, the ghost in the room ?
the box & the flower pot.
and, I thought I was taking pix of the show . .
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, ‘Untitled Box’, 2017.
in . . “THE REAL FAKE”, a one week pop-up curated by JESSE LAWLOR & PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO.
a Real fake, Basquiat-inspired . . ‘found’ wooden box. metal hinges and all, mixed media. ghostly co-habitation included. 12 x 12 x 10 in.
($2,000)
If I had $2 grand in my pocket right now – it would be mine, because: . . it’s radiant, and . . .
a flower grows on top.
and it’s drippin’ – with that Basquiat . . juice.
the Real fake / fako-you-out duo: Alfredo – Basquiat.
who knows, maybe they’ve . . morphed. Has Basquiat jumped the matrix ?
is there an algorithm . . for that ?
I know for sure, there’s . . folklore for that.
in this day of social platforms, DGI, AI / and even AI art ‘pieces’ / games created by digital artists – playing themselves without . . algorithm, that have very unexpected narrative stories / I mean .. really, really OUT Of THE BOX !!
the stationary image, made by an artist – that ‘speaks’ / with spontaneous combustion !!
. . is what we still take for proof – of the individual, human / lo-tech / primal power.
vision / speech.
“THIS LAND USED TO BE . . .”
& . . I put my artist – stamp / on what I make.
the heat – behind the crown.
the mind, behind the man. the artist / poet.
drippin’ with fighting words.
PAY HEED.
MIND – YOUR HIS-TORY.
& VOO-DOO.
or, you are DEAD.
or, are you already, dead ?
or, are you LIVING DEAD ?
this is real box. a box with metal hinges.
it is a . . construction.
just the way the show / “THE REAL FAKE” – is a conceit / a construct / a concept.
top of the box – rollin’ on its side.
it’s a stationary construct – it can’t be seen all at once.
and life, what’s life.
and death / what’s death ?
Mardi Gras – seems more like it.
one word: island people / BOB MARLEY rolled with ghosts, too.
so, does it make sense that Basquiat could . . jump the box ?
and, a flower – grows . . on top ?
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . “THE REAL FAKE” / inside the mind of the notorious Basquait Forger |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 6th, 2017, 10:39am
ALFREDO MARTINEZ – “THE REAL FAKE”
AN IMAGINARY JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT RETROSPECTIVE – ALL ART WORK BY ALFREDO MARTINEZ
CURATED BY JESSE LAWLOR & PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO
AUG 31 – SEPT 7, 2017 / OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – DAILY INCL LABOR DAY / 7 PM – 10 PM
3Squared Gallery, 157 W. 24th St, NYC
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, ‘BASQUIAT’ BOX, 2017
found plain wooden box, approx 1-1/2 ft cube, metal hinges, acrylic paint / ghost imbued !!
($2,000)
ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . the REAL BASQUIAT FORGER !! GIVES BASQUIAT – a REAL FAKE . . RETROSPECTIVE !!
THIS REAL FAKE – ‘BASQIUAT’ INSPIRED – BOX . . . . . !!
A REAL . . STEAL / at $2,000 !!!!!!!!!!!
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . “THE REAL FAKE” / RADIANT CHILD – TAKE TWO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 3rd, 2017, 12:00pm
ALFREDO MARTINEZ – “THE REAL FAKE” / EXTENDED THRU SEPT 7, 2017 !!!
OPEN EVERY DAY, INCL LABOR DAY WEEKEND / 7 PM – 10 PM
3Squared Gallery, 157 W. 24th ST, NYC 10001
CURATED BY: JESSE LAWLOR & PAUL-ANTHONY NAVARRO
ORIGINAL ARTWORK by ALFREDO MARTINEZ – INSPIRED by JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
the show opened: FRI SEPT 1, 2017 / & IT WAS >>> GREAT !!!!!!
FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:
‘THE BASQUIAT BUDDHA – A JEAN-MICHEL MID-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE – BY ALFREDO MARTINEZ’
THE BASQUIAT BUDDHA:
Mr. Martinez channels Jean-Michel Basquiat’s mid-career avatar as retrospective.
His intention is to exhume Jean-Michel’s 2nd act into 20 paintings.
BASQUIAT FORGERY BONA FIDES:
Alfredo Martinez convinced an art collector . . .
(who remains unnamed despite inquiry, lol / though the story is pretty much entirely true !!
I know that – because I witnessed it first hand. I had just started working for Walter Robinson at artnet in 2002 & I attended & covered the Forgery trial for artnet. Alfredo got sent to the BIG HOUSE for 2 years.
of course, I knew Alfredo !!
from way back, to the early if not mid-1990s for sure. but no, I did not mastermind the caper, as he likes to claim – “it was all your idea !!”
though it was me and Simon Cerigo, my R.I.P. hubby – who introduced him to Tom Warren . . from whom he shiftily lifted the bonafide Basquait Certificate of Authenticity. and yes . . he, Alfredo did ask me, on more than one occasion – to offer his ‘real’ fake Basquiats for sale on his behalf – as I was perfectly positioned to do so, since I had known Jean-Michel & I now worked for the venerable artnet, as a reporter/photographer.
~NANCY SMITH / who scribbles this website & carves it out of her heart, I might add. if you haven’t noticed.)
but wait !!
we got a little ahead of the story !!
I will interject . . more intimate liner ‘notes’ – where appropriate.)
so a blonde walks into a bar, oops wrong story !!
so, ALFREDO MARTINEZ convinced an art collector . . .
(he was in the height of his art world glory at the time. in his early 30s ?
and quite cute. as far bad boy cuteness goes.)
and convinces an art collector (rumored to be LEO KOENIG) to purchase two drawings by Jean-Michel Basquiat which belonged to Tom Warren in the late winter of 2001 for a bargain price.
(now, heads up young newbies on the scene:
Tom Warren, who was at the time, a bit player / a somewhat ‘documentary’ photographer on the scene, who toiled away his whole entire life as an art handler for a big auction house, and prob still does / though reportedly he’s gone a little insane, just saying. really did have about 10 – 15 real, early Basquiats !!
how he got them ?
he went to a party at Jean-Michel’s loft, a lot of us were there, but good ole Tom was the only one, BRIGHT ENOUGH, to rummage through the studio trash can, and he fished dem drawings right out of the trash !! YEP, TRUE STORY.
and, he not so soon after Basquiat moves on to the next world, went on to have them certified with those Letters of Authenticity – which are pure gold, or may as well be.)
These 2 absolutely bonafide Basquiat works – were in fact exhibited, as Tom Warren’s contribution, in the notorious ‘WELCOME TO THE PLAYGROUND OF THE FEARLESS’ group show of downtown hardcore artists / that Alfredo put on after 9-11, in a big street level warehouse loft space in Williamsburg, on Berry Street, 90 N.11 & Berry / & managed by Jeff Gompertz at the time. later to become a huge bar.
(and, yes. I had work in it, & I have about 4 rolls of 35mm film documenting the show – in my archives, btw)
so anyways: Alfredo took ‘charge’, lol of returning the 2 authentic pieces that had been pilfered, to Tom Warren.
but before he actually returned them, he made his own versions !!
(and turns out he was a natural at doing phony Basquiats, btw / just had the hand & eye. bros from another mother, that close.)
‘WELCOME TO THE PLAYGROUND of the FEARLESS’ – the exhibition card
NANCY SMITH, ARCHIVES
the press release for “The Real Fake” goes on to say:
After returning the drawings, Martinez mentioned to Tom, that “there was interest” in the work from collectors who had seen the work in the show. He said he wanted to ‘make copies’ of the Certificates of Authenticity before shopping the works around, so he could bring them along as proof they existed. Warren handed them over to Alfredo.
(without a second thought. Alfredo immediately scampered over to KINKOS, the big xerox copy shop at that time & made copies. he then returned the copies to Warren, and KEPT THE REAL ONES !!
oh yeah.)
and then, he sold the FAKE / forged Basquiats – with the real Letters of Authenticity.
after this, is where the current press release gets a little bit sketchy.
it declares, fast forward:
“The collector was tipped off that the paintings were were fake by a Chelsea dealer who subsequently notified the FBI.”
lordy: the real background story:
the Chelsea ‘dealer’/ haha, ex-drug dealer / art collector . . . one squirmy dude by name of LIO MALCA, who did indeed blow the whistle . . had at this time bought the Soho loft of Josh Harris {of ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ fame & a big patron saint / confidante of Alfredo’s} & that’s how he found himself close to the action.
Alfredo had him, lock, stock & barrel . . until those evil twins, the ENGERS BROS. started coming around with tons of other REAL Basquiat merchandise, and LIO being somewhat shifty himself, caught on real quick, and got real mad / at being swindled and yes, he did call the FBI. I mean, don’t ever rip off a drug dealer, even an ex one. Alfredo !!
what were you thinking ?
& I’m not slandering him, because I attended the Martinez- Basquiat Forgery trial for artnet, and he had to testify in court, ad he had to admit under oath – to selling coke and serving his time. so it’s on the god damn record.
though if you never hear from me again, y’all know why and call the cops.
this was me – at the time, when I was first hanging out with Alfredo on the Lower East Side.
unknown, and over-looked by the mainstream art world, but mischievous as hell.
with the photos, to prove it.
NANCY SMITH, ca 1999. that’s my 35mm camera I’m holding, in a case.
“THE REAL FAKE” press release continues:
Claiming to be collectors, FBI undercover agents led Martinez (and one of them a gorgeous blonde agent, btw – according to Alfredo ) to make more Real / Fake Basquiats, and Certificates in an elaborate sting operation . . and he was apprehended by the FEDS on June 19, 2002.
(a date he seems to remember well, lol. they couldn’t get him on ‘forgery’ because that was too murky, so they got him on out-of-state WIRE FRAUD, having him ship the REAL / FAKE package out of town & receiving the illicit funds in return.
Long story short – Alfredo went to jail for 2 years.
where he was quite the celeb, painting portraits with handmade coffee pigment, of all the hard-core gangsters he was housed with / because of his real, fake weapon-making skills, another story, for another day. essentially: is that a Saturday live special or a bar of soap ?
not to forget, the Hunger Strike episode.)
JOSH HARRIS and ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . re-create the famous ‘WARHOL – BASQUIAT’ pose.
it is summer of 2010 in Williamsburg, again a Jeff Gompertz loft, lol.
Josh had just rescued Alfredo from the dark hole of SECRET DETENTION in China, on weapons charges, what else ?!!!
seems he couldn’t quite convince them – those were real, FAKE weapons.
true story.
and he in fact came back quite damaged, and traumatized, and said he had been tortured.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
BACKGROUND:
“THE REAL FAKE” press release continues . . .
ALFREDO MARTINEZ’ art career . . began in 1993 (he would be about 20), at Pat Hearn Gallery, the show was a happening called ‘Skater Angels’ produced by David Greenberg and and Diego Cortez . . . and he went on to participate in the seminal “BONG” group show at the now legendary ALLEGED.
(but to my mind, his biggest claim to fame, at the time, was that he lived for a while with the now world famous . . MARIKO MORI !!!)
His heights of legitimacy came when he exhibited in group shows at the original P.S 1 . . . in the summer of of 2000, ROBERTA SMITH reviewed a big group exhibition he curated called ‘Na-er Do Wells’, for the New York Times. That same year, “a dot.com millionaire by the name of JOSHUA HARRIS, (in collaboration with Leo Koenig) financed an indoor automatic weapon firing range designed by Martinez for a Millennial project entitled: ‘QUIET’.
(this went on to become the basis of the film: ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, which went on to win BEST DOCUMENTARY at Sundance in 2009 / and in which . . I have a rather inglorious, & inadvertant starring role / in that I was the one who got kicked out – for getting into a (serious / one punch she was down, unconscious) fight, boy was I pissed off, and with good friggin reason.)
MARTINEZ . . is a bonafide weapons expert, he spent several years working with Rick Washburn at WEAPONS SPECIALISTS Limited.
(the JIM JARMUSCH 1999 film, ‘GHOST DOG’ with Forest Whitaker was inspired by Alfredo, & in fact Alfredo made all the replica gun props.)
(the last paragraph of the press release is very telling. the press release was obviously penned by JOSH HARRIS, himself . . who is an urban tech / art legend unto himself, often termed the Andy warhol of the web. Josh started off with selling a second hand car for $700 . . built JUPITER.COM, the first web ‘trend’ tracking site & . . was worth a cool $81 million buckeros when Alfredo, and then I . . . meet up with him.
It was Alfredo who brought me to work on Josh’s ‘Pseudo’, talk about ‘REAL / FAKE’ !!! crew, where I started off as Josh’s very own, bonafide . . antique American quilt consultant !! and quickly worked my way up, to being his art world liasion, talent scout, and personal assistant . . really, really rather quickly. to the chagrin of many others, who had been in the crew way longer.
this is the last paragraph:
“These were noteworthy achievements for someone who never graduated from high school. In a field (the art world) where academic legitimacy is highly revered, Martinez managed to do remarkably well (and bad, lol !!), with only an eleventh grade education. In this regard, he is a true folk artist , an elitist term synonymous with ‘outsider’, a derelict.”
well, apparently, it’s not just HENRY D. THOREAU . . who can write a mountain !! out of some fairy dust !!
damn, what’s a blog – if not a PERSONAL JOURNAL.
see you, at the show, tomorrow night.
& and on a REALLY, REALLY PERSONAL NOTE . . . ME, ALFREDO & THOREAU:
when I read about Thoreau’s terrible, terrible ‘WOODS BURNER’ accident, lighting more than 300 acres of pristine wild land on fire, I thanked my lucky stars, that that stupid chick who taunted me at ‘Quiet’, eventually got up & was ok. could have easily been, not.
likewise, Alfredo has had a couple of close calls too. he once shot a gun at a wall, in a room, and the bullet ricocheted off it, and hit his girlfriend at the time – right smack in the forehead. lucky it was on a spent trajectory, and it just grazed her . . being just one close call.
Josh also had a close call, something like leaving a gun unattended, and a friend came over to visit with a small child.
come on, in some ways — the whole damn art world . . is a close call !!!!
people get damaged, left & right.
we were all so hard-core underground, that we are still pretty much . . under-the radar.
and I think that’s what . . Josh is also so, amazed about – considering all the exploits and accomplishments.
including ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, including ALFREDO’S CAPERS, & including ARTLOVERSNEWYORK, this . . major street cred / of a blog / of a journal.
just scroll down the left hand margin, I called it – ALL.
UNDER THE VOLCANO – WATCH OUT !!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think we can really be denied !! – FOREVER ?!!!
just got give those staid ole, same old same old critics – and those ‘paid-for’ mainstream art magazines, a big swift kick in the pants, if not a rubber bullet to the forehead.
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ . . “THE REAL FAKE” / OPENS: FRI SEPT 1 / 7-10 PM / runs thru SEPT 7 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 31st, 2017, 11:26am
REVISIONIST HISTORY . . IS A GOOD IDEA
let’s say regarding: early PRE-HISTORIC THEORIES / early COSMOS THEORY / early BIOLOGY, etc etc.
EDITING / DELETING – or WHITE-WASHING HISTORY, is NOT.
DEDICATED TO: MOTHER NATURE – A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH / TEXAS FLOODING
‘THIS EVER NEW SELF: THOREAU and HIS JOURNAL’
JUNE 2 – SEPT 10, 2017
MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM
see: ‘THIS EVER NEW SELF’ – EXHIBITION NOTES & IMAGES / MORGAN LIBRARY
‘THOREAU’S HERBARIUM’
EXHIBITION NOTES:
‘Like many nineteenth-century nature enthusiasts, Thoreau had a plant press and collected specimens on his daily walks. He shared this passion with his sister Sophia and his brother, John. But Thoreau’s practice was more than casual. He assembled nearly a thousand specimens, most from around the Concord area, and meticulously logged his findings in his journals. Though not a trained botanist, he educated himself through extensive reading. He paid particular attention to the works of pioneering Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus, whose system of plant taxonomy Thoreau found not only useful but downright poetic.’
Specimens of Lupinus perennis (wild lupine) and Lilium canadense (Canada Lily), collected by Henry D Thoreau, ca. 1853-57. (36-37 yrs old)
Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
EXHIBITION NOTE:
“About half a dozen years ago – I found myself again attending to plants with more method – looking out the name of each one & remembering it. I began to bring them home in my hat, a straw one with a scaffold lining to it – which I called my botany box. I never used any other, & when some whom I visited were evidently surprised at its dilapi(da)ted look – I assured them it was not so much my hat as my botany box….
I soon found myself observing when plants first blossomed & leafed -& I followed it up early & late – far & near several years in succession – running to different sides of the town & into the neighboring towns often between 20 & 30 miles a day. I often visited a particular plant 4 or 5 miles distant half a dozen times within a fortnight, that I might know exactly when it opened – beside attending to a great many others in different directions & some of them equally distant….”
HENRY D. THOREAU ~ 4 December 1856 (39 yrs old)
HENRY DAVID THOREAU – THE WOODS BURNER, over 300 ACRES !!
THIS WAS NOT – TOUCHED UPON IN THIS EXHIBIT / AS FAR AS I OBSERVED.
from: ‘HENRY DAVID THOREAU – THE WOODS BURNER’ / HISTORY of MASSACHUSETTS BLOG
REBECCA BEATRICE BROOKS, AUGUST 14, 2012
“On April 30, 1844 HENRY DAVID THOREAU (27 yrs) accidentally started a MAJOR FOREST FIRE in the Concord Woods after a (lunch time / grilled fish !!) campfire got out of control. The fire burned 300 acres of forest and almost set the town of Concord ablaze. (!!)
Residents of the town were angry at Thoreau for not only damaging personal property in the fire but also for burning some of the last remaining untouched woodland in an area that had been devastated by deforestation brought on by the industrial revolution.
As Thoreau stated in his journal (6 years later !!) the residents continued to taunt him, (calling him) . . ‘WOODS BURNER’ wherever he went.”
source: ‘THOREAU: WOODS BURNER’ – HISTORY of MASSACHUSETTS BLOG
SO .. flash forward,
it would be like having protestors following you around, today.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU – was a complicated guy, for all they try to make him out to be so . . simple. homespun.
I also gathered from my internet readings, that he was also rough & had a seemingly ‘unsocial’ character in many ways, esp with people he had no interest in, or time for.
the way / many natural-born artists, are still . . today.
it’s hard to imagine having to walk that line of having set a major forest fire, and being derided in town, with the man who wrote so lovingly about conservation & nature. let alone giving fairy land ‘tours’ to the town’s children !! some suggest that’s why he retreated to Walden.
that he was arrogant and, hard to deal with – is obvious in the long journal entry of May 31, 1850 – where he recounts the day – and his feelings & where . . he so FAMOUSLY, explained why he didn’t feel any remorse !!!!!!
source: ‘THOREAU: WOODS BURNER’ / HISTORY of MASSACHUSETTS BLOG
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~HENRY DAVID THOREAU . . . NATURE LOVER, PLANT PRESSER / WOODS BURNER |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 30th, 2017, 5:25pm
‘THIS EVER NEW SELF: THOREAU and HIS JOURNAL’
JUNE 2 – SEPT 10, 2017
MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM
see: ‘THIS EVER NEW SELF’ – EXHIBITION NOTES & IMAGES / MORGAN LIBRARY
‘THOREAU’S BHAGAVAD-GITA’
EXHIBITION NOTES:
‘One November day in 1855, Thoreau (that would make him 38) was boating on the Assabet River and found a 20-foot oak timber lodged in some rocks. He noted the find in his journal . He towed the wood home and used it to build a bookcase for a much-anticipated gift: forty-four volumes, primarily English translations of sacred VEDIC texts, that a friend had shipped from England. Among them was this book. Thoreau had come across the Gita (as translated and interpreted by an Englishman) a decade before while he was living in a cabin by Walden Pond. By the time his own copy, with its bright blue covers, arrived in 1855, it was already one of his most valued texts.’
Bhagavad-Gita; or The Sacred Lay: A Collloquy Between Krishna and Arjuna on Divine Matters, J. Cockburn Thomson, ed.
Hertford: Stephen Austin, 1855
One of two volumes, this one in Sanskrit
A gift from Thomas Cholmondeley to Henry Thoreau and from Thoreau to Bronson Alcott
Concord Museum, Gift of E. H. KITTREDGE, 1942: TH6B
well, I guess if you were a Thoreau scholar you would know . . just how far out Thoreau and his ‘Transcendental Club’ got. it was a like ray of other-worldy sunshine, inhabited by divine talking gods, yet !! splintering into golden dust . . as it head-first on the deep-set, dry & straight-laced early Colonial / Puritanical mindset.
this exhibit did not want to veer too far off the ‘naturalist’ & grounded path, but Thoreau, he was a strange bird, and a spiritualist visionary / aspects of which probably took him deeper into his nature ‘radar’- than the curator or curators of this are prepared to dwell on. so thank the divine streak in his journal, that burnt the lamp . . of eastern beliefs, and somehow . . made sure this book, and its ‘meaning’ – though not mightily engaged – still stands before us to ‘consider’ – in this display case.
I guess it’s not a far path, from the often tiny & multi-kingdom / of divine gods of ancient Hindu – to look up an divining the tiny faeries cavorting around you, in the present.
at any rate, fairies and nymphs are just a part of our European, and probably Native American heritage and FOLK LORE . . esp British / as ghosts, so what’s up with that ?
the world be a mighty strange place, and we’ve probably driven them all away, or killed them all off ,as in Lord of the Rings.
all I know is, no one can explain the tiny tiny golden arrows they found in the desk of the most famous Stonehendge scientist, so, as they day: BOO-YA !!!
Hawthorne has already told us, that Thoreau had the nature ‘radar’ of another . . ‘planet-mother’ / and she showed him things she kept from others. reading the Vedic scriptures and living alone in a cabin in the woods, must have just pushed that fairie gear into – high drive.
“I took a walk on Spauldings Farm . . . “
‘WALKING’ – by HENRY DAVID THOREAU
source: Sun and Shield – Thoreau on Fairies
yes, HE SAW FAIRIES . . .
“it is hardly surprising that someone who was an intimate and friend of Mother Nature as Thoreau should have been afforded glimpses of her deepest secrets. Not only did he write of his relationships with the fairy world in 3 beautiful poems, he was FAMOUS among his Concord neighbors for having escorted 2 generations of children to the places where Fairies could be met.” !!!!!
source: 5 Things You Did Not Know . . about Thoreau
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~HENRY DAVID THOREAU . . . & HIS BHAGAVAD-GITA. divine talking gods & meadow fairies |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 29th, 2017, 4:31pm
‘THIS EVER NEW SELF: THOREAU and HIS JOURNAL’
JUNE 2 – SEPT 10, 2017
MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM
see: ‘THIS EVER NEW SELF’ – EXHIBITION NOTES & IMAGES / MORGAN LIBRARY
LETTER FROM NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864) . . to HENRY D. THOREAU, dated: 19 FEB 1849.
Thoreau would be 32, Nathaniel . . 45.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote ‘The Scarlet Letter’ in 1850.
EXHIBITION TEXT:
‘LECTURER . . .
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a friend and fellow author, wrote this letter to invite Thoreau to speak at the Salem Lyceum. Would he be prepared to deliver his “Indian Lecture”, or maybe another about his “Walden experiment”? Thoreau came of age during the heyday of the American lyceum – a public forum for adult education, entertainment, and debate. He often based lectures on entries he had written in his journal, tested out ideas on live audiences, and reworked the texts for publication. Thoreau accepted Hawthorne’s invitation and delivered a talk that would make its way, in revised form, into the second chapter of “Walden” (“Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”) five years later.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
Letter to Henry D. Thoreau, dated Salem, Massachusetts, 19 February 1849.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909
the friendship of Thoreau and Hawthorne, was one of two first things that struck me like thunderbolts . . while touring this perfect storm of an exhibit. just the contemplation set my mind on a reverie. Hawthorne, a writer of such perfect, exquisite fiction, and Thoreau the observer-philosopher/realist/visionary.
the other was his . . BHAGAVAD-GITA !!
what a strange hub that Concord was. the intellectual life, (which was much umore ‘magical’ than the exhibit let on, bye the way ) – surrounding Thoreau was touched on in the exhibit, obviously. but on a very academic, and looking back: dry slant. esp for an exhibit on one who was essentially a home-grown, and might quirky, native son . . scholar recluse monk.
the relationship of Thoreau and Hawthorne, and likewise RALPH WALDO EMERSON the latter not much emphasized in this exhibit, must be the focus of many a scholarly project. as a newcomer to the subject . . .
it was the Hawthorne connect that – that first opened a further pathway in – for me.
Hawthorne moved from Boston to Concord in July of 1842, with his new bride, Sophia to a house he rented from Emerson & . .
“Thoreau had planted a vegetable garden next to the house as a wedding present.” Thoreau would have been . . 25 !!!!!
“Hawthorne’s appraisal of Thoreau’s physical appearance and social behavior .. was unflattering” – yet he praised his “scholarship; his good sense; the way he handled his skiff”.
“In his (Hawathorne’s) Sept 1, 1842 entry in ‘American Notebooks’
he describes his friend “ugly as sin, long-nosed, queer-mouthed, and with uncouth and somewhat rustic, although courteous manners.”
In that same entry, however he cites Thoreau “as a keen and delicate observer of nature, — a genuine observer, — which I suspect, is almost as rare a character as even an original poet; and Nature, in return for his love, seems to adopt her especial child, and shows him secrets which few others are allowed to witness.”
source: HAWTHORN In SALEM – ELDRITCH press
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
~HENRY DAVID THOREAU . . . & NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 24th, 2017, 1:45pm
