Art Star 2# (updated Oct23)

Reminded of roughhouse Greg - Shantaram - Roberts turning into a cad after his great success, Hollywood adaptation; &etc. The karung guni abstract painter caught on the No. 2 on Victoria Street must have been coming out of Immigration. Unsighted initially, it was the woman with child that caught the attention, entering and edging along the passage. Aduh! Down with the sneering and superciliousness; totally uncalled for… Tall, well-maintained Chinese with a nice dye tone and street cred, were it not for the camouflage cap carrying the six inch brass/gold SIXERS on the crest. In Asia, or SE Asia at least, arty types were permitted flaunting. WTF? Cop this, people! Watch your eye-balls don’t pop out now…. (Perhaps it was the same London & NY at the upper levels.) The old painter had picked her up on the Mainland, HK or Macao maybe. Graduated from rag ‘n bone to commercial galleries across the region, chap was a bona fide star now. Ah well, good luck to you Joe; man had certainly earned his stripes. The old bachelor who had been put up by an indulgent brother many years would make a good father to the Sixers’ young lad. Would HK, Shanghai and Shenzhen put an end to the dazzling output? It was a question; in the lap of the Art gods. As regular readers will recall, the tip to buy had been given early on, well before the fellow had been taken up. (Now Eric at the art supply on North Bridge Road wiould be getting back the owings from his years of quiet support.)

NB. Art Star 1#, the compatriot performance artist and portraitist Mike Parr, had been met at a Sing. cafe couple of years ago. The self-portraits available online give a good indication of the stature. Tan Chong Bin is the name of this other.