For sale at $50 million: the purported Pollock of the film, “Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?”
Who the “#$&%” needs Sotheby’s or Christie’s, when you’ve got Gallery Delisle?
The six-month-old Toronto gallery, more accustomed to offering works by Canadian artists who sell in the four-figure range, next month will be offering the purported Jackson Pollock that an American former truck driver, Teri Horton, had bought at a thrift shop for $5. Just multiply that figure by $10 million.
Canadian Press reports:
[Gallery] owner Michelle Delisle says she reached out to Horton after seeing the
documentary, “Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?” in which the
gravel-voiced Horton discovers she may have a masterwork on her hands,
but comes up against an established art market that refuses to
acknowledge evidence provided by a Montreal forensic expert.
Stephen Holden, in his NY Times review of the 2006 film, wondered “if the movie itself might be a public-relations maneuver preparatory to an auction.” Not quite, but close.
Inquiring Delisle patrons will want to know: Does this purported Pollock come with expert authentication? Is it accompanied by a $50-million money-back guarantee? If not, does Canada have consumer protection laws?
And whatever happened to those controversial “Matter Pollocks”, which occasioned serious artworld examination and debate after they were discovered in 2003?