Saturday 16^th October 2010

In Frieze Week too!

I’ve had my own mini-Frieze. I promised I’d tell you about it.

But you won’t believe the serendipity such as could only befall a Poor Little Rich Gay.

On Tuesday I happened to ask my friend Peter Acharya, who is a Prince or Brahmin of Trinidad, very grand, and works, in London, on the CEO’s floor, if he’d heard of an artist called Boscoe Holder, of that island – if you remember, the one I was urging you to Google earlier in the week. Robert Nevil did and loathed. But I love him.  His nude black men are astonishing. It’s not what you think. They are touchingly not good-looking, vulnerable but substantially present at the same time.

I saw his work first at Trenton’s gallery in the summer. There’s a romance attached of how Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, two utterly world artists, residents of Trinidad, chancing upon a wretched flogging off of a heap of masterpieces by the recently dead and forgotten Boscoe, were knocked down by the brilliance and put a call straight through to Trenton in London.

Now Trenton doesn’t sell anything for less than £10,000.

Well, it turned out that Peter had not only heard of Boscoe but was totally finger in pie, highest circles in Trin, top gays of course, knew his biographer, what’s more was on the phone to his gallerist in Trinidad at that every moment.

Peter spends a lot of time on the phone to Trinidad arranging for fine wares from his Princedom, good china and glass, to be shipped to London.

The cafe story can’t be entirely true. But the really astonishing thing, make sure you’re sitting down – an exhibition of Boscoe Holder had opened that day in Port of Spain! Here’s the weblink, Peter said.

Never has a person clicked with such frenzy. You could buy long distance, you see. And the prices were superb. Most of the important Boscoes had sold. But on page 8 ‘Tobago Wedding’ was still available.  Although not one of the important nude black men, it’s enchanting and disturbing.  By now it was late. I e-mailed the gallery and went, throbbing, to bed. On waking, I seized, at once, my I-Phone. A reply! I could have it for £540 plus £100 shipping. Still in bed, I sealed the deal.

I can’t believe it. World art for £500!

Now Peter has made private arrangements to scour Trinidad for more Boscoes. We must have one of his nude black men.

'Tobago Wedding' by Boscoe Holder

'Asleep' by Boscoe Holder: One of the Important Nudes but Already Sold