THE WRETCHED AND THE SUBLIME: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CURRADO MALASPINA
BY DAVID SCHOFFMAN
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
DRAWING: A REASSESSMENT
On a recent trip to the United States, my dear friend Currado Malaspina took in a Yankee game (or maybe it was a Knick game), met with his principal dealer, Doloras Shem-Totan, and made a few sketches in his various notebooks.
I sat for him, as did various other colleagues and acquaintances.
The whole process got us thinking.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Currado Malaspina's Chez-d'oeuvre inconnu
My dear comrade Currado Malaspina sees himself as a modern day Frenhofer.
The truth is, he has all the tragedy and none of the talent.
His recent artist book inspired by Balzac's classic fable is charming and sad in equal measure.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Saturday, February 10, 2024
THE LAST OF THE GREAT FLÂNEURS
My dear, eccentric comrade Currado Malaspina, is a relic. He has no cell phone and therefore, no Google Maps. His complete absence from life online has given him no other alternative than to adhere to actual, physical existence. Without texting apparatus or email he is forced to communicate (he is comfortable in at least four languages) with articulated words spoken in full or near-full sentences.
His attention span is still intact and his memory is unfailing. Though he owns a bicycle, he prefers to walk.
As he walks, on occasion he stops, and when he stops he sketches.
Above is an old accordion notebook annotated in english.
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Saturday, July 15, 2023
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
Unlike many of my New York colleagues, my good friend, the French artist Currado Malaspina loves Los Angeles. He visits the city religiously twice a year (though he rarely lets me know he's in town, preferring to spend his time with a bevy of sycophants, art collectors and Hollywood B-listers).
Knowing that both California and his native Paris are doomed to climate catastrophe, he has taken it upon himself to chronicle every detail of each city with some form of visual representation.
The video above is just one of the hundreds of sketchbooks he has devoted to this sanguine lamentation.
Friday, July 7, 2023
THE SWEET GUIDE
I've often wondered what animates my dear, eccentric comrade Currado Malaspina. He has many strange habits and obsessions. He wears scarves in summer, he collects wind chimes and garden ornaments and he reads and rereads Dante in Italian without understanding a word.
His latest folly is imagining Beatrice Portinari as a celestial seducer luring an earnest and vulnerable Alighieri into spasms of desire. His illuminated Paradiso which he impishly titled "La Dolce Guida," is weird and beautiful.
Though still far from finished, we can get an idea of what it might look like by this misleading video:
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