ART HISTORY - RESET

A small scandal is underfoot. 

The creation myth surrounding Currado Malaspina's internationally acclaimed Palimpseste series is facing a serious challenge from, of all places, the Persian Gulf. 

Palimpseste #3, Currado Malaspina 2012

These familiar images have come to be associated with the very idea of Currado Malaspina. For lack of a more dignified term, it has become, to a large measure, his 'brand.' Despite the intricacies of his highly developed yet personal cosmology, the obscure nature of his far flung hermeneutics and the eloquent expertise of his obsessive yet lyrical execution, the works themselves have become, like Leonardo's Mona Lisa or Carpentier's Song of Degrees, a mere humdrum, misunderstood facsimile and a self-replicating unit of popular cultural significance or put another way, a celebrity.

The plot has now taken an unexpected geopolitical twist with the emergent claims of the hitherto unknown Persian artist, Müshil Mehemrodrageh.

Like many Americans, the French carry a cloying colonial

Müshil Mehemrodrageh

prejudice that claims that only the West is capable of serious artistic innovation. The idea that the Iran of the ayatollahs could produce a painter of merit within its own borders, working within its own institutions is about as likely as finding a decent slice of pizza in Jakarta or a croissant au beurre in Minsk.

And yet, the Teheran-based Müshil Mehemrodrageh has not only been producing a steady stream of sophisticated pictures for the past thirty-five years but he may also be the rightful and legitamite progenitor of Malaspina's alleged chef d'oeuvre Palimpseste. Reviewing the evidence, the conclusion of many specialists, critics and diplomats is both disturbing and rather damning. 

Bildar no. 4, Oil on linen, Müshil Mehemrodrageh 1980 (courtesy of the artist)

The recent tempest surrounding these works has even eclipsed the nuclear issue, at least for the moment. The renewed claims of Persian cultural supremacy have once again taken center stage. The ire against the French has been so caustic that the Iranians are considering ignoring Francois Hollande's offer of relaxing economic sanctions.

"Keep your goose liver and your smelly cheeses," deputy foreign minister Omar Boabache recently said at a particularly bellicose news conference, "between Russia, Turkey and Japan we're doing just fine without all your effeminate exports! Say goodbye to our fancy rugs and delicious pistachio ice-cream not to mention our oil. You can faire le bise my ass mes amis!!!"

I heard that Mehemrodrageh recently hired someone to taste his food and check under his car for funny looking balloons.

I guess even paranoids have enemies.