ALEX FAN MONIZ and glenn strutt to show case
Alex fan Moniz and Glen Strutt also known as Marlene Duval will be showcasing his book ‘Colours of South Africa’ at SANAA 2013.
Alex Fan Moniz is a Swiss-based poet, photographer and songwriter. Some of his photos have been used at Indaba Durban 2011 and ARBI project 2012 in Australia. Alex started writing short-stories already as a child. In 1992, one of his poems “As Cinzas” (The Ashes) was selected by the Academia de Coimbra (one of the world’s oldest universities) at literary initiative, “Indiferença”. Some of his works will be exhibited in Sep 2013 at the Temecula International Art Expo, California. He studied Humanities at the University of London and Coimbra, is fluent in 5 European languages and has lived in several countries. He lives between South Africa and Switzerland.
A look at Alex and Glen activities
Both the Royal Collection and London auctioneers Bonhams have been duped into accepting paintings by South African artist Helen Anne Petrie, an artist whose very existence is questionable.A quick internet search on Petrie’s work finds dozens of links to the artist’s biography and career, all of which are exact replicas and can be traced back to a Glenn Strutt, a South African in his late thirties. The biography claims that the artist was born in 1933 to Scottish aristocratic heritage and died in 2006. She was an “exceptionally generous philanthropist, anti-apartheid activist and a truly brilliant artist, a true matriarch of South African female artists of her era and generation.” The accolades continue, stating the artist’s paintings portray “on the one hand the ecstasy over the beauty of things such as nature, on the other hand the sombreness, the awareness of the inevitability of mortality. Her paintings, especially portraits, appear mostly to be caught in a timeless instant, the here, the now!”
According to these biographies, Petrie’s work boasts such varied collectors as John F Kennedy, Maria Callas, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Frank Sinatra and David and Victoria Beckham. Her paintings are also said to be amongst the collections of the Tate, the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery Denmark and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, to name a few.
‘Helen Anne Petrie’: Self Portrait; image held here
Yet none of Petrie’s paintings are in these galleries. The auctioneers Bonhams sold three of the artist’s paintings last year for £28,000, and now admits they “might have been misled to some extent about her artistic importance.”
Strutt appears to be the only link to Petrie’s art. Strutt, who runs an art brokerage firm in Switzerland, Mayfair Collections, befriended Kaye Bonham and introduced her to Petrie’s work. Bonham later said “the Strutts told me about Petrie and I was led to believe she had some kudos.” Although her husband, Nick Bonham, was more reluctant, alleging Strutt tried to fool Bonhams. “He came in with photos of works of art for sale but I could see they were not what he said they were. He then started bulls****ing he was off to see the queen.”
Both Strutt and his father claim to have bought Petrie’s paintings at an auction in South Africa and were so intrigued by her art that they decided to further research her life and career. However large factual errors are obvious in her supposed biographies. In 1954 she supposedly studied in Holland where she was assisted by the artist Jan Vermieren, a remarkable statement considering he was only six at the time. Again in 1961 they state that Petrie was in England receiving “a few weeks in private tuition with Gillian Ayres,” yet Ayres explicitly denies to have given private tuition to any pupil, much less know the artist. As for the collectors and galleries who Strutt claims to possess Petrie’s paintings, he says that he has letters to back up his claims but that “they are locked away in a trunk.”Strutt’s apparent murky dealings are further highlighted by gallery owner David Zetler, to whom Strutt took alleged paintings by priest and artist Father Claerhout. Zetler describes how “he tried to sell them to me, but they were fakes.”
Edgeworth Johnstone, an artist who investigates possible forgeries concludes that “all the evidence, or rather lack of it, points to this being the early stages of seeding a non-existent artist to build up a track record so later on works can be sold on the back of it.” The Royal Collection refuse to comment on the circumstances surrounding any individual bequests, adding that “before accepting any gifts careful consideration is given, wherever practicable, to the donor of the gift and its nature.”
LINKS http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/arts/Visual_Arts/article181669.ece
http://www.recirca.com/cgi-bin/mysql/show_item.cgi?post_id=4958&type=news&ps=publish
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