When he's not beating his head against the tarmac or coiling himself into an embryonic crouch my good friend David Schoffman enjoys a minor side-career as a freelance investigative journalist.
He skulks around Los Angeles like a gumshoe, burrowing about for something that might be juicy enough for publication. Too cowardly to write about crime and too dim to diagnosticate corruption he keeps his radius within the provincial ambit of the art scene.
Few remember that it was David who uncovered the ignominious double dealing of Bamber Turkic, the former chief critic of Orange County's Studio Gazette and host of the popular reality program What Next, America? In a business where conflict of interest is seen as a necessity, the fact that Turkic was privately selling the work of artists whom he had favorably reviewed barely raised a pimple. The scandal was that it turned out Turkic was actually producing the work himself under a score of carefully organized aliases!
 |
| Wine's Moisture, Lacquer on copper, Reggie Reynolds ( aka Bamber Turkic ), 2009 |
The problem was especially acute in art schools. It was so widespread that to this day when scrutizing a résumé at an art gallery one can never be completely certain if the artist is legitimately credentialed!
This kind of journalism is extremely important and I hope David continues to act as the conscience of the creative class. Politics, such as it is, has poisoned Schoffman's reputation as a painter. For now he occupies his time sitting for hours in neighborhood bistros with his ear to the ground and eyes agape and attentive.
This kind of journalism is extremely important and I hope David continues to act as the conscience of the creative class. Politics, such as it is, has poisoned Schoffman's reputation as a painter. For now he occupies his time sitting for hours in neighborhood bistros with his ear to the ground and eyes agape and attentive.
No comments:
Post a Comment