The Last Dragon
1983
A painting done for the first gallery show I had in Lausanne.
Unfortunately, the original disappeared courtesy of some rather frankly dishonest gallery owners in Annapolis, Maryland. Part of a show I had at the Pendragon Gallery, it evaporated at the same time as the owners when their gallery moved to a new location and then went bankrupt.
I lost a LOT of artwork to those people, who were full of promises and reassurances until the day their phone number was no longer in service. Cornelia Theys, if you're out there, I'd like to know where my paintings went. One day, I hope at least some of it will turn up.
Actually... some of them did.
You can download the article here.
December 2010
Going to add a rather more positive postscript to this caption, to balance out the rather bitter commentary I posted when putting the portfolio together. About a month ago, someone wrote to say they had seen this picture on eBay, was bidding, and wanted to enquire as to whether it was really mine. I replied that indeed it was, and immediately requested that eBay remove the item. Happily, it came down quickly, and I was able to contact the seller, a consignment agency, who put me in touch with the auction house where the painting had recently been purchased and finally, after several long conversations, with the person who had purchased it. To cut a long story short, and with the help of several other people who kindly lent a hand, and some really very basic faith in human nature, the painting was returned. I'm grateful to all the people who were involved, who owed me nothing and who could have blocked the whole delicate process at any point, as well as to a few wonderful individuals who came forward spontaneously with help and advice. The original is now with my agent.
There is still a lot of artwork out there, thanks to the extraordinarily callous and cowardly doings of the owners of the Pendragon Gallery. I remain hopeful some of those pieces will return one day.
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