In addition to being a moderately gifted draftsman, a passable polemicist and a reluctantly trenchant teacher my good friend David Schoffman is a great champion of contemporary art.
Something of a collector of eccentric and inexpensive work, David combs the far flung art fairs in search for the next big thing.
Most of the time he's dead wrong like when he "discovered" the public sculpture of the Korean provocateur Shai Kwok.
After seeking out the reclusive artist and persuading him to sell, sight unseen, the two-dimensional contents of his three oversized flat files, Kwok admitted publicly that his artistic persona had been an elaborate hoax. As a foreign student at UCLA in the early 90's Kwok bet his frat brothers that he could successfully fake an artistic career. If not for the unforeseen advocacy of my credulous friend David he would have lost his wager in a heartbeat.
Far from being disabused Schoffman continued his quixotic hunt for the hot, the hip and the decidedly cheap.
He showed a little more discretion when he came upon the paintings of Sorina Vanderbilt. Based in Chicago Vanderbilt's work has both craft and concept.
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| Special Pleading, oil on canvas, Sorina Vanderbilt, 2013 |
Vaguely reminiscent of the work of Italian neo-expressionist Arturo Shmueli, Vanderbilt offers a decorative critique of what she calls the "sexual/pharmaceutical conflation of interests." I think David was attracted to the pretty colors. After a favorable notice in The Huntington Post it looked like Vanderbilt was well positioned for success.
Unfortunately the gifted young painter decided to go to medical school and gave up making art for the foreseeable future.
David is still on the prowl for the next great wave and is now desperately trying to figure out who is the hand (or hands) behind this popular and iconic picture:
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