SCHOFFMAN: PAINTER by Currado Malaspina

RAIN MAN MEETS REMBRANDT

In a 1999 review in “Cahiers D’Ivers,” the writer Raymond Quineau described David Schoffman’s paintings as “outsider art performed by an insider.”

An atypically apposite observation by a typically undistinguished critic.

From the late 80’s “The Shape Of Sleep” through “Cohanim,” “The Loom Of Minerva,” and “Rattling Traffic” of the 1990’s and on to the current series of one-hundred paintings, Schoffman’s work looks like the product of a highly sophisticated lunatic.

On the one hand the work is steeped in art historical allusions. On the other hand his projects are always disturbingly unique. Schoffman inclines toward an aesthetic of repetition and like many “outsiders” he has an unnerving patience for detail. He is fervently devoted to the diminutive dot. Monumental pieces are painted with #00 brush. Layers of complicated patterns are composed of tiny, tic-tac size brushstrokes. His pictures trill with an insect-like drone and being with a group of these works can be a profoundly disturbing experience.

I recently ran into Quineau in Rome where he was working as a consultant for an anonymous American art collector. I asked him if he was keeping up on the vicissitudes of Schoffman’s erratic career. He answered me with an icy glower. “These days, Malaspina, I don’t look at art … I just buy the stuff.”