January 19, 2011
the thought that counts
Mr. Landis — often under his own name, though more recently as Father Scott or as a collector named Steven Gardiner — has indeed done a lot of traveling over the past two decades, but not for the church. He has been one of the most prolific forgers American museums have encountered in years, writing, calling and presenting himself at their doors, where he tells well-concocted stories about his family’s collection and donates small, expertly faked works, sometimes in honor of nonexistent relatives.
Unlike most forgers, he does not seem to be in it for the money, but for a kind of satisfaction at seeing his works accepted as authentic. He takes nothing more in return for them than an occasional lunch or a few tchotchkes from the gift shop.
I think there’s a movie here. I picture Michael Stipe as Landis. Or shit, I guess the obvious choice is John Malkovich.
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The lives people make for themselves.
I see him more as a Christopher Lloyd.
And look how he makes it look like a wide-screen TV.
You could not make this stuff up. Imagine if you tried. “It’s not possible to fool art experts like that.” Right?
Which reminds me of something a woman in D.C. said during a critique of a Eudora Welty novel, “The Optimist’s Daughter.” She hated the book, she said, because “no one talks like that.” She had never been south of Richmond.