STRUCTURAL SEMIOLOGY IT IS NOT

LIKE TOCQUEVILLE AND BAUDRILLARD BEFORE HIM, CURRADO MALASPINA EMBARKED ON A SEARCH FOR "LA VRAIE AMÉRIQUE." PACKING A LEICA Q8151 DELUXE, A DOZEN UNLINED LEGAL PADS, A MOLESKIN SKETCHBOOK AND A MICROCASSETTE RECORDER, CURRADO COVERED OVER 4500 MILES IN THREE SHORT WEEKS.

from De la Démocratie en Amérique Recouvrer by Currado Malaspina, Editions Aubergine, 2011

 DRAWN EQUALLY TO THE GANGRENOUS, THE EMINENT, THE DEGENERATE AND THE TRANSCENDENT, CURRADO LOITERED, SAUNTERED, IMBIBED, EMBROILED, SEDUCED, INVEIGLED AND RELAXED HIS WAY THROUGH THIRTY-NINE OF THE FIFTY STATES.


THE PRODUCT OF HIS PEREGRINATIONS IS A HEFTY NEW BOOK OF PHOTOGRAPHS, PUBLISHED BY EDITIONS AUBERGINE ENTITLED DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA REDUX. IN IT YOU WILL FIND LUSH, DESCRIPTIVE IMAGES OF A COUNTRY AND A CULTURE AS VARIED AS IT IS VAST. SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A DISTINGUISHED FRENCH PAINTER, THE PICTURES IN THIS VOLUME STAND ON THEIR OWN AS INDEPENDENT WORKS OF ART.

MY PARTICULAR FAVORITE, SEEN ABOVE, IS FROM LOS LUNAS NEW MEXICO. CAPTURED BEHIND THEIR DILAPIDATED "CASA MEXICANA" TWO SHIRTLESS RAGAMUFFINS IDLY WADE WITHIN A SAD SUMMER CONTRAPTION MADE FROM AN OLD RED TARP AND A GREEN GARDEN HOSE. UNDER THE CLEAR, ARID DESERT SUN,THESE ADORABLE YET IMPOVERISHED CHILDREN INNOCENTLY MISTAKE THE SPRINKLER FOR THE SEA. 


MY FAVORITE PART OF THE PHOTOGRAPH, AND THIS IS THE MALASPINA GENIUS, IS THE QUIET DIGNITY IN WHICH THE BRIGHTLY COLORED PLASTIC SANDALS LINE THE EDGE OF THE PARCHED YARD. "THIS IS THE MAJESTY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE," THE PICTURE SEEMS TO ANNOUNCE. WHILE THE GROSS DISPARITY BETWEEN THE AMERICAN CLASSES REMAINS UNPARALLELED IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD, THESE TWO DISINHERITED CHILDREN STUBBORNLY MAINTAIN THE QUIXOTIC HOPE IN AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.


BRAVO, CURRADO!!

Ἀπελλῆς

 BOOK STALLS FROM ATHENS TO THESSALONIKI ARE DOING A BRISK TRADE IN AN UNLIKELY BOOK. DASHED OFF ON A NAPKIN IN THE SUMMER OF 2000, CURRADO MALASPINA'S POLEMICAL CONFESSION CUM HISTORICAL MANIFESTO - OSTENSIBLY PREMISED ON PLINY THE ELDERS' RENDERING OF APELLES - HAS TEMPORARILY DIVERTED THE GREEKS FROM THEIR ECONOMIC WOES.

IT'S MORE OF A PAMPHLET OR A CHAPBOOK THAN A FULL THROATED DISSERTATION. IT'S A BROCHURE, A BOOKLET, MAYBE EVEN A LEAFLET BUT CERTAINLY NOT A TOME OR A SERIOUS SCHOLARLY EXERTION. SO WHY ARE GREEKS SO TAKEN BY IT?


FOR ONE, IT'S FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH  CURRADO'S SCABROUS SCRIBBLES THAT EUROPEANS ARE SO TAKEN WITH. ANOTHER REASON MAY BE THAT THEY SEE IT AS A VEILED CRITIQUE OF  MIRIAM ALEXANDRATOU, THE CONTROVERSIAL LARISSIAN PAINTER WHOSE STIFF RENDERINGS OF NESTING ROCK PIGEONS ARE THIS YEAR'S RAGE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE.


IT REMAINS A MYSTERY HOW A SHORT, SLIGHT BOOK BY A SHORT, FAT MAN CAN IGNITE A NATION'S COLLECTIVE PASSION WITH SUCH VEHEMENCE. WHEN THE WORK WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FRANCE OVER A DECADE AGO IT BARELY LEFT A  TRACE ON THE GALLIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPE. 

THEN AGAIN - THE HELLENIC FOUNDATION OF CULTURE HAS YET TO HONOR JERRY LEWIS

Anticipates Post While Pre-Dating Neo

FEW PEOPLE REALIZE THAT PRECEDING THE RAGE FOR PICTORAL IMAGERY THAT CHARACTERIZED THE NEW YORK ART SCENE IN THE 1980'S, A SMALL BUT INFLUENTIAL GROUP OF PARISIAN PAINTERS CAPTURED EUROPE'S IMAGINATION WITH THE STIRRING OPULENCE OF THEIR RECIDIVIST WORK.

Questionnez Vos Petites Cuillers, Currado Malaspina, oil on canvas. 1973

SUBJECTED TO THE CRITICAL  RACK AND CURATORIAL THUMBSCREW OF THE REIGNING AMERICAN PATRICIANS OF THE TIME, THIS PICKLED COTERIE OF ARTISTIC ADVENTURERS WERE TACTLESSLY IGNORED EVERYWHERE WEST OF BORDEAUX.

THE YOUNGEST MEMBER AND UNOFFICIAL MASCOT OF WHAT BECAME KNOWN AS L'ÉQUIPE DE RÊVEURS INSOLENT WAS MY GOOD FRIEND, CURRADO MALASPINA. HIS WORK AT THE TIME CLEARLY ANTICIPATES MUCH OF WHAT DOMINATED THE CAVERNOUS SHOWROOMS OF WEST BROADWAY CIRCA 1980 - 1985. THAT HE IS RARELY GIVEN CREDIT FOR HIS BROAD INFLUENCE IS SOMETHING HE ATTRIBUTES TO "LE PROVINCIALISM ET DE L'ARROGANCE" OF THE NEW YORK ARTWORLD OF THAT ERA.

THIS GROSS INJUSTICE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ART HISTORIAN VIOLETTA GUISE OF THE ACADEMIE DES ORDURES AND MOSHE NAVARRE, DIRECTOR OF PARIS'  GALERIE FER A CHEVAL, A COMPREHENSIVE EXHIBITION CONNECTING EARLY MALASPINA WITH ITS AMERICAN OFFSPRING  IS ABOUT TO OPEN THIS SUMMER AT THE MUSÉE D'ART MODERNE AUDRUICQ.

THOUGH IT REVEALS CURRADO'S VAPID AND CALLOW JUVENILIA, THE CORRECTIVE IS LONG OVERDUE!