THE SMITH ARCHIVE: The Continuing Story of Randall Smith’s 95 “Lost” Masterworks On Paper — Jean-Michel Basquiat 1981–1987
Although Toronto residents Talin Maltepe and Jason Halter were once as “thick as thieves”, recent changes to their social media accounts reveal the duo acting more like cockroaches — running away when exposed to the light.
In “Sleeping With Basquiat”, her catalogue essay for the 2018 “Smith Archive”, Toronto resident Talin Maltepe spins a tale describing her fateful “first meeting” with Jason Halter in 2017:
“That same day I finally get a call back from Jason Halter talking about
his collection and how he acquired it. We made arrangements to go
visit him that day and when he gives me his address I realized that he
actually lives right across the street from my home. We could throw
rocks at each other from our windows!”
But Maltepe’s “first meeting” claim is an untruthful prevarication.
Let me show you why that’s only one of the deceptive claims made in the Smith catalogue.
On June 14, 2016, Maltepe posted this painting on her personal Facebook page, boldly stating it was a Basquiat and bragging that she would “smile” when it was sold.
That painting, shown below in a February 28, 2020 post on Halter’s Instagram account, is owned by Jason Halter.
So Maltepe’s claim that she didn’t meet Halter until 2017 (although she could have “thrown rocks” at his window) is pure bullshit.
And Halter’s no slouch in the deception department.
Here’s an Instagram post from Halter proclaiming “Open 24 Hours ” was created by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
However, in this Instagram post, Halter appears to tacitly acknowledge that “Open 24 Hours” is an uncatalogued work.
And it’s not the only painting in the “Gray Matter Archive” linked to both Maltepe and Halter.
The duo worked with convicted drug smuggler John Leo Mangan III/AKA “Lee Mangin” to bring the “Heroes & Monsters” (the same collection of purported Basquiats previously flogged by the duo in 2017/2018 under the “Mumford Collection: Borgia Trust Archive” name) exhibition to the craven (and apparently stupid) folks who run the Orlando Museum of Art.
And, later today, I’ll reveal another transaction Maltepe and Halter executed less than a year ago.
Here’s a hint: it involves a Florida man.
