THE SMITH ARCHIVE: 95 Lost Basquiat Masterworks on Paper…Formerly The Contents of A Shipping Container, Long Forgotten In A New Jersey Aircraft Hangar Since 1989 (No Kidding!)
If you loved the origin story of the purported “lost Basquiats” hanging in the Orlando Museum of Art (storage unit default, auction, Thaddeus Mumford), you’re going to love the tale concocted in 2017 by Talin Maltepe and Jason Halter for “The Smith Archive”.
What, you ask, is “The Smith Archive”?
The Smith Archive is a collection of “95 works by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat”, currently owned by Randall Scott Smith (shown below). Currently an Illinois resident, Smith claims to have served in the military and been a member of the U. S. Army Special Forces — the Green Berets.
Oh, but more on “Smith” later.
The unusually imaginative narrative cooked up for the “Smith Collection” by Maltepe and Halter, those two crazy Canadians who helped Leo Mangan get his 19 Basquiat paintings to market, has striking elements of the Orlando Basquiat myth:
“The SMITH COLLECTION is comprised of 95 works by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, and comes from a collection of about 200 works that were collected and owned by the late Rupert Jasen Smith, master print maker and art director of Andy Warhol’s Factory, and friend of Jean-Michel.
Introducing the man who is no longer with us, and cannot speak for himself: Smith died in February 1989 from complications of AIDS.
“Smith was a noted collector, and was known to buy large blocks of works on paper from Jean-Michel Basquiat, according to those who knew him in the Factory days.”
Crazy assertion #1. No one can easily prove — or disprove — that claim. Neither Maltepe or Halter offer any evidence.
“The contents of a shipping container that was known to belong to Rupert Jasen Smith were liquidated in a forced sale in 2011. The container contents were known to have been the lost portion of Smith’s estate, long forgotten in an aircraft hangar in New Jersey, since 1989.”
Crazy assertion #2. Maltepe and Halter actually want you to believe that the “container contents” sat in a lonely New Jersey aircraft hangar…for 22 years after Smith’s death!
“Randall Smith, of Illinois, had come to be aware of the collection via social media in 2013, and began to collect the works, knowing how valuable the works would be as a comprehensive collection. Over the course of approximately 3 years, Smith collected 95 works by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, constantly researching the life of the artist and the works, knowing that they were of enormous value, aware of their significance in the oeuvre of the late Basquiat.”
Crazy assertion #3. Smith somehow squirreled away “95 works” by Basquiat, knowing “they were of enormous value”. How did he know they were authentic? Who was he consulting with? From where (or who) was he buying them?
“In the spring of 2017, Talin Maltepe contacted Smith via a LinkedIn contact, and together with Jason Halter, they viewed the collection in Illinois. Thereafter, Talin Maltepe was given the direct mandate to control the collection.”
Even, apparently, acting as Smith’s tour guide during a trip to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood cemetery to view Basquiat’s grave.
There are too many issues in this sprawling saga to cover in one story, but I’ll leave you with this question: why is convicted art forger Alfredo Martinez examining one of the “masterworks”?
The rest of the story beginning Monday, April 25.
