After taking a break for a few days to get over this cold and actually just make my own work, I thought I’d actually read the materials in the “press packet” Siros is sending around. It was more interesting than I had anticipated. Bear with me – I know that I’ve spent too much time on this thing, but I feel compelled to push it through to the bitter end – like a big, over-due turd.
I continue to get calls from people who are receiving these things, expressing the same mixture of confusion, hilarity, and sympathy that has lately become the essence of my interactions with humanity. Siros has, after all, harassed practically everyone I know in town.
I’m still itching to get an official statement from Gerald Peters about having allowed their name to be used to sell Trich, but I’m assuming after my last call and my statements here that I won’t actually manage to get director Ashley Tatum Casson on the phone, much less Peters himself.
Someone exchanged Eric Trich and my emails so we could make direct contact. We sent a couple guarded missives back and forth. He says Siros is his friend, who has given him cash, kudos, and “connections,” and for now, he wants to be left alone to study. I said that’s a very good idea, and recommended he stick close to his faculty at SMU, and to be careful of what is done in his name.
Speaking of which, back to the packet. As I mentioned before, it raises a number of red flags. In fact, it’s one big red flag. As long as he’s sending them out to everyone, let’s take a closer look, shall we? Warning – this is lengthy. Much of it consists of direct, full quotes from the packet. The synopsis for the ADD set: Siros seems to have no compunction about, uh, “stretching the truth” when it suits his purposes.
From the Case File (cue CSI ka-chung):
“news stories” and “reviews” (all impressively printed 11” x 17”):
besides copies of my original blog, eloquently calling into to question the whole catastrophe that is Le Cirque du Trich, in an apparent attempt to shame me with an overwhelming Shock and Awe onslaught of glowingly positive press, Siros included the following truly impressive pile of tree…
a) Paper City gallery listings page (just the dates and place for Trich’s sole exhibition.)
b) Dallas Morning News – ditto.
c) Dallas Modern Luxury – the same, gallery listings, but with an actual picture this time, and caption stating “Not to be missed!”
d) DML, again, with a brief feature by S.G. (I’m told that is Senior Editor Stacy Girard, unavailable for comment.) She is responsible for the “renown artist Siros” line. She is also guilty of shoving both “teen Titan” and “boy wonder” into her opening sentence (note : this is months before his one and only show.) The story mentions Neiman Marcus couture manager Matthew Simon as a collector, who for some reason failed to make the collections list I dissect below. I called him. He said he knows Siros, but laughs and says there’s a story. I’m waiting for his call back.
Also mentioned as collectors are Margaret Crow, Barbara Hunt-Crow, and Priscilla Beshears, all heavy duty Dallas Ladies Who Lunch. What got into them I wonder? Trich’s pictured collage portraits of Crow and Beshears are frankly hideous, and somewhat terrifying.
e) Two nearly identical stories in the Turtle Creek and Park Cities editions of The People Newspapers . Both ran June 29, 2007. I spoke with the writer, then Society Editor Kristiana Heap, who said that they only found out about Trich from a call, by (who else?), Siros. With portraits in the works for Crow and Beshears, it was up their alley, the six different editions being basically upscale Dallas community weeklies.
The story says that Siros needed an assistant to help on a commission. He asked Trich to help, after their now legendary encounter in the Starbucks. On seeing Trich’s work for the first time he says: “I was astounded. I have been in the art world a long time and I’d never seen this.” Gerald Peter’s director Ashley Tatum Casson is on record as saying “He’s really lucky to have Siros as a mentor.” That word is used a few times in the story, actually.
Why does everbody keep saying that word? After all this, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to use it again without nausea overtaking me. Choice Siros quote: “It’s time for me, after 30 years as an artist, I want to be a leader.”
“Of all 51 drawings” the article states, “all have been sold, and there is a waiting list of well over a dozen people for his future works.”
f) Longview News-Journal , August 12, 2007, story by Lauren Thompson. It includes – Ta dah! – a picture of Siros. Sadly, he doesn’t have the bushy mustache I imagined him twirling between his fingers while cackling “I’ll get you, my pretty!”
Says Trich: “Siros decided I need to have an art career…he shoved as much art history in my mind as he possibly could.” (ahem…I’m not touching that.) It’s a pleasant enough, light-weight little story about a local boy making good. The only real gack moment comes, as usual, with Siros: “I wouldn’t put my reputation on the line if I didn’t think he had something.”
That golden reputation; indeed, a precious thing.
g) Richland Community College Chronicle, Nov. 6, 2007. The by-now familiar spiel, from the voice of the community college charitably granting him a show. “Siros spent the eighties immersed in the New York art world, and witnessed first hand the work of Jen-Michel (sic) Basquiat and Keith Haring.” Siros, not to mention Basquiat, sure come up a lot in these stories about Eric Trich.
h) Last but not least, 8 column inches supposedly from the Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye section , dated August 18, 2007 (for his show in late October?) The infamous headline reads “the Sexiest man Alive in the Art World.” I called the Tribune to see if they actually ran this. The answer was an unequivocal “No”, nor was there any other mention of Trich, Siros, or this show, in any edition their newspapers, ever.
Reading some of it to him, the Red Eye editor I spoke with said that there is absolutely no way they would have published this travesty against the English language. Judge for yourself. The article reads thus (spacing, grammar, spelling all verbatim):
“He’s got the looks and talent that go with it too. However, for Eric Trich, a 19 year old Texan who is a freshman at the Dallas Art Institute (sic), it is not only his looks that make him the sexiest man alive in the art world, rather it is his incredible neo-expressionism style paintings and drawings.
“His work is fresh, new and all about his generation of Twenty-First Century American teens. His text messaging words scribbles over the madness of lines and images of recent and historical events and personalities. A fierce rush of brain explosion scatters over his stark black and white canvases, which sets them on fire and leaves the viewer blinded by the flames and awed by its intensity. Eric’s body of work has put texas art collectors and galleries in a frenzy creating a long waiting list for his work.
“His mentor and advisor is Siros. A former resident of Milwaukee, Siros turned the Midwest upside down at the age of 18 with his Eve magazine in the early 1980’s. Eave magazine, so ahead of its time, created a national controversy over its photography upon release of its its first issue and gave siros over-night notoriety. A few years later, Siros moved to texas to pursue his art career. With his pop/neoexpressionist style he is among the emerging American-iranian artists.
“So for Eric Trich to find Siros seems to be an art connection made in heaven. The art duo are planning to merge in create a collaborative body of work to be unveiled in 2009. Then this duo will become the artworlds sexiest men alive. Watch out Men’s Vogue!”
“Solo exhibition at Brazos Gallery, Richland College, Dallas, Texas Oct 19-Nov.21”
Yes, folks, that’s right: alleged copy from one of the most important newspapers on Earth. Yes, indeed-y.
“Planning to merge,” “Sexiest Man,” a strangely erotic subtext, the shirtless poster image, the pick-up in the Starbucks. I don’t know, just questions and more questions…
The Letter:
a) the text:
“Dear patrons and Art Lovers:
SGA Enterprises (New York, Los Angeles, Dallas) in conjunction with London and Tokyo based private art patrons and investors are proud to represent Texas native, American born prodigy artist/painter Eric Trich.
“With his very first astonishing sold out one man exhibit titled “I Do Not Exist” this past October at the Brazos Gallery – Richland College (sic), Dallas, Texas, Eric Trich proved us right in believing in his gifted talent. His sold out exhibition place (sic) his art work among some of the most notable non-private and private art collections in the world. Collections such as: [I document my frustrating vetting process of the 55 item list below.]
“Its (sic) quite impressive from a 19 year old from Mesquite, Texas, who has had no formal art training and was discovered and mentored [gack!] by renowned Iranian-American artist Siros only fourteen months ago. With a year long waiting list for his work and currently starting his first academic semester at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., we at SGA Enterprises, along with the London-Tokyo based Private Investors Group, would like to congratulate Eric Trich on his achievement. We are also excited about a possible exhibition of Eric’s work in Peking [sic], China. We certainly are looking forward to his upcoming 2008 exhibits. Best wishes and further success to Siros and Eric on their upcoming March 2008 exhibition shows in Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium.
Bravo Eric!
Best Regards
(signed)
K.R. Shook
President”
b) the list:
Alright, I had more of a vested interest than most who received this thing to see if anyone on this list actually owns any of Trich’s work. Who else is actually going to call around (even though those spending their money or writing about his guy ought to have.) Problem was, some of them are hard to reach. Like, say, Sir Elton John, who apparently made it to Richland Community College ["His sold out exhibition place (sic) his art work among some of the most notable non-private and private art collections in the world. Collections such as..."] without the rest of us knowing, to snatch him up some hot Trich. That’s right, our boy Elton is near the top of the list. As are the French shoe impresario Christian Louboutin (also hard to get on the phone.) Fellow fashion houses Dolce & Gabbana and Fendi have also been seduced to join the “frenzy” that is Trich, and all of whom have Richland Community College on their gallery must-see lists.
“The Jonathan & Joan Schlesinger Collection” hails from exotic, moneyed Monte Carlo, so they too were hard to track down, or in fact, find any evidence of. As was “The Cavila Family Collection, Milan”. “Udo Bischofburger Collection,” despite immediate associations with actual Basquiat patron Bruno, pulls up nary a match for that name anywhere on the planet, much less Zurich, his stated home-base. With Basquiat seeming to be the alpha and omega of Siros’ contemporary art comprehension, and “Basquiat” the movie some sort of model for his guiding of Trich, it’s not a stretch to imagine him conjuring up his own Germanic dealer hero, even if the name reflects a consistent pattern of imagination failure.
“Shoreh Agadashlo(sic)”, actually Agadashloo, is an Iranian actress I was familiar with from House of Sand and Fog. Also hard to get to. Possibly a fellow Persian, also listed as living “Beverly Hills, CA,” “Gorgi Nikkaran” pulls up one listing. Surprise – he’s right here in North Dallas. An auto parts dealer, he sells Nikken therapeutic magnets on the side. Many names are used numbers of times, for each of their palatial homes around the globe. “Bahram & Batoul Shabahang Collection”, accounts for three listings, one each for presumed homes in Florida, New York, and Siros’ home town of Milwaukee, with Trich art in each one would think.
I actually spoke with Mr. Shabahang, an established Oriental carpet dealer (pointless digression: I used to sell rugs for a 90 year-old Armenian woman as a student). A store clerk in New York just gave me his cell number. He was very nice. He said he had known Siros when he lived in Milwaukee. In accented English, he said “I liked his art because it was different, very original.” I asked him when Siros moved to Dallas. “In 1984 or so.” He didn’t have any idea who Trich was, but admitted he owns some Siros work. He said his wife was maybe currently having Siros paint them a commission or something, but he wasn’t sure.
“Ichihara meat & fish packaging company(sic)” Tokyo, pulls up bupkiss. As do “Siy & Keiko Ichihara” of Tokyo, “Jeffrey Orliey & Sons Banking Investments” New York, “Dr. John Delgis (Citi Architect Inc.)” San Francisco, “Shiraz Winery…Napa, CA” (I used to live in Napa, and I really doubt a winery there would name itself after that low-rent, if sometimes delicious, varietal, or have absolutely no record of existing, anywhere); on and on and on it goes, with Google and Whitepages.com and calls to ATT information in various cities pulling up nothing, nothing, and more nothing.
But wait – I found someone who admitted to having something, even if it’s not an actual Eric Trich. The listing for “Eric & Sheryl Maas (Classic BMW) Collection, Plano, Texas, U.S.A.” led me to just call up Classic BMW of Dallas. I spoke with Mr. Maas’ secretary, who called him directly and confirmed that they do indeed have a big “interesting” painting in the dealership’s lobby. Mr. Maas conveyed that it was a Siros work, but that he was thought Trich maybe acted as his assistant on it (possibly it’s the painting that Trich first assisted Siros with in the stories above.) The letter is not exactly truthful, but at least somebody had some vague idea of who I was talking about. I’ll try to get over for an image of it, if I’m near.
Wrapping up the 55 listings which, rabbit-like, have bred since the January list of 30, after finding no actual confirmed human who will admit to owning Trich’s art, there are a series of totally untraceable “Private Collections,” in Malibu, New York, and Paris, that go unnamed. We just have to take Siros’ word for it. Also taken on faith is the ownership of Trich’s work by collectors listed here as being members of, first, Art in America’s “2007 Top Ten World Art Collectors”, a Trich-owner said simply to be residing in London; Vanity Fair’s “2007 Number One Largest Contemporary Art Collector in America,” a denizen of Los Angeles; and finally, one of “Art New”(sic) magazine’s “Top 100 World Art Collectors” lives in Tokyo, and is crazy for some Sexiest Artist in the Art World (“Watch out Men’s Vogue!”)
What, the Siros lie to you? Naaahhhh…
