IN EXCHANGE FOR WORDS

The tragedy of Currado Malaspina is too petty, too puerile, too insignificant to serve as a cautionary tale. Malaspina is a silly, gifted man. His reputation in France has never suffered from his serial scandals. Quite the contrary. But to American sensibilities, his chest-thumping maleness is a putrid remnant of a discredited time.

 

Perhaps this graphic record will suffice.

WATER(COLOR) UNDER THE BRIDGE

My dear colleague, the French artist Currado Malaspina, is not the most tactful person I know. We met years ago at a conference in Lyon that had something to do with contemporary European painting and he made a deep impression upon me.

He was no more likable then, then he is now.

At the time he had just inherited the directorship of this oddball, neo-Dada artist collective called The Plausible Deniability Project™ (PDP™). He heart wasn't in it. He passed most of the leadership responsibilities to the California painter Dahlia Danton, an artist of modest ability known mostly for her conspicuous indifference to irony. Benefiting from the prestige the republic of France inexplicably grants to loud men in positions of authority, Malaspina turned PDP™ into a lightening rod for Twitter-ready controversy.

His luck may have run out.

"Malaspina est annulé," is the latest headline in the Parisian art press. It seems that some were triggered by his latest show at Valéry Contemporain. 

I'm curious. Perhaps there's more to the story than these trifling little watercolors.

 

Malaspina Performs the Impossible

 The Purgatorio Project is complete

NEVER BY THE BOOK, TILL NOW

Never in my wildest imagination could I have predicted that my good friend Currado Malaspina would agree to subject himself to this type of aesthetic paraphrase.

But, in the age of rupture and fragmentation, I guess it all makes sense.

And actually .... he makes a few good points.

 

THE VIEW FROM THE SEINE

Though my dear comrade and rival Currado Malaspina rarely leaves the cozy confines of the 10ème, his familiarity with the popular cultural trends of the United States is pretty uncanny. 

Though I have lived in Los Angeles for a quarter of a century, I was not familiar with Day Spas, Avocado Toast, Naked Yoga, Medical Marijuana, Cryotherapy, Ojai, Coachella or Self-Care until Currado brought them to my attention.

And I have to say, he is always spot-on!

He has unfailing taste and I have yet to be disappointed by his recommendations.

I have to confess that when he suggested that I start listening to podcasts I asked him if it was on AM or FM! But, after a few guided interventions he succeeded in helping me purchase a smartphone and acquire the appropriate 'apps.'

The very first podcast he recommended was Timmy Black Presents: The Lives of Contemporary Artists. 

I honestly didn't get it at first. I think it went over my head. But after a few binging sessions I became an avid fan. (I actually met Timmy Black, years ago, when we were both young artists struggling to get by. He was working as a bartender and I was working as a sous-chef at Carp and Sea 'Em in Venice!)

Anyway - if you haven't heard about this, I urge you to start listening as soon as possible.

MALASPINA'S ON THE MONEY

My good friend, Currado Malaspina recently suggested that in order to alleviate my prolonged, chronic posture of bitter alienation I should subscribe to a few pointy-headed podcasts.

After experimenting with "Sheila Houpelle Speaks in Tongues" (too obscure), "The Frat Race" (too violent), "Politicalia" (too strident) and "Récits Scolaires" (too French), I finally found the right one!

Now I'm hooked! Once again, Currado Malaspina has demonstrated his refined, eclectic tastes and his wayward yet classy predilections.

DESPACITO

Call it a case of unintended consequences, collateral artistic damage or simply an example of our natural attraction for undeserving demigods but my good friend Currado Malaspina has become something of a folk hero in Latin America.

He's referred to as "el extraño," and his image can be found on walls and stalls from Mexico to the Dominican Republic. He's a favorite among art students - but that's probably because of the legendary 2005 Museum of Contemporary Arts Guanajuato (MOCAG) exhibition Dónde está Duende where he featured portraits of the famous Telenovela starlette, Danaë Jerónima.

The fact that his fame has extended to the general population defies simple explanation.

He's often depicted in the company of Che or Fidel or Hugo Chavez but I've also seen his smug, silly portrait sharing space with Enrique Iglesies and Roberto Clemente.

One would think that Malaspina, whose Spanish rarely extends beyond "cerveza fría por favor" and "eso viene con plátanos fritos" would be an unlikely luminary among Latinos. But it probably began with his improbable friendship with the late Cuban master, Micah Carpentier.



I think Currado was in some way responsible for smuggling Carpentier's paper bag drawings out of Havana and into Paris.

Whatever it is, they seem to love him down there which is fine since nobody north of El Paso has ever heard of him.

And if there is any justice in this world it will remain that way.