ACCIDENTAL AFFINITIES

An important influence on David Schoffman’s development as a painter was the legendary Cuban conceptual artist, Micah Carpentier. Author of innumerable manifestoes, Carpentier is best known for two enduring masterpieces: “The Mind Is A Place Of Vague Things” and “The Song Of Degrees.”

As a young art student Schoffman served as an informal amanuensis to the reclusive master, answering mail, performing tasks around the studio and tending the garden. “Idleness and humility,” Carpentier would intone, “are strangers to me.”

Schoffman claims to have had a hand in conceiving “The Song Of Degrees.” He is lying.

Carpentier’s nephew has devoted his life to maintaining his uncle’s powerful legacy. He is the executor of his estate and the editor of his massive literary output.

He has a modest website where examples of “Degrees” can be seen.

(http://www.artmajeur.com/micahcarpentier/)

I miss Micah. He was a good and dear friend. I have posted above, one of my favorite photographs of him, playfully hiding behind his beautiful paper bags.

THE GIFT

The other day I was leafing through an old weather beaten copy of Dolfeto’s classic novella “Besos del Follaje”. I love the chapter where he describes in excruciating detail the luckless pair, Monique and Simon, getting married. Drawn by strong but unwarranted passion, the two of them shuffle nervously at the muddy makeshift alter on Fern Hill. Dolfeto is a master in combining comedy and rage in an elegantly dissonant prose.

I had forgotten that this particular edition (Goulote, 1989) included black and white reproductions from Schoffman’s earlier series “Chorister.” It really was an inspired choice. These moon-blanched images conjure so poetically the atmosphere of irreverent reverence that Dolfeto was so famous for.

I’m embarrassed to confess that my copy of the novella was actually inscribed to me. It reads: “To Malaspina, toward whom I have mixed feelings.”

THE BODY IS HIS BOOK (continued)

It has always mystified me how a recluse like David Schoffman found such a devoted following. I was in Shanghai last week, meeting with a group of junior curators from the Quijon Bo when David’s name came up.

“Oh yes …. We studied his work in graduate school. Is he still working on “The Body Is His Book?” Is he really making one-hundred paintings?” “Have you seen any?” “What is he like?” “He looks just like John Malkovich!”

Schoffman only shows his work on rare occasions and must be coaxed to do so. He devotes himself to large-scale operatic projects that take years to complete. He keeps critics and curators at bay and is even guarded among his colleagues.

And yet, whether I’m in Shanghai, Tokyo, Anatolia, Zurich, New York or Miami, people are fiercely interested in David Schoffman’s work.

So, for the record: “The Body Is His Book: One Hundred Paintings” is about half finished. David has about fifty stunning images hung in orderly rows on his studio walls. The work is rich and complex and unlike anything else out there. He is patiently working every day, slowly bringing the work to a state of startling perfection.

Also for the record: He looks nothing like John Malkovich.