Did this Guy Murder Bill Mack?

Who the heck is this Guy?

Back in 1990 Bill Mack sculptures were all the rage with celebrity collectors. Oliver Stone's film "Wall Street from three years before used Mack's bas relief nudes to decorate the set walls of Gordon Gekko's plush office. Sometimes this is all you need to get a career to shoot upward, not museum purchases or serious critical revue. Mack's nudes are the prototypical perfect woman , lithe, leggy and nude.Playboy stuff. One work entitled "Enigma" could have the title "Girl in a Box." His works are a plasticine type of mixture sometimes with bronze powder added to give it the illusion of heavy mass. If it were bronze solid you would not have a wall to hold it much less the forklift to move it around.Bill Mack is making his yearly visit to St Augustine for a two day meet and greet at the Cutter Galleries. Either Bill Mack the sculptor will be here or someone with that name, that is.Read on. 

Previously we wrote about the troubles that dealers were having with Thomas Kinkad (Painter of Light tm) .The art world ,or rather the faux art, resort gallery industry has as much smoke and mirrors as does the so called high end fine art galleries in NYC or Paris.The Art Expo to the trade in April every year at the Javits Center offers up all of the latest child prodigies, ape paintings, more jumping whales, dead cartoonists reprints etc. Anything that is novel to get potential customers into the gallery.You'll find Bill Mack there.Interestingly you'll not find his birth date on any of his biographies.

The Bill Mack people have done something that I've never heard of. They have replaced the Bill Mack that I knew  back in 1990 with another Bill Mack. The original Bill Mack would be at least 65 years old. Does the guy in the picture above look 65? Three years ago I encountered the fake Bill Mack in front the Love's Gallery prior to a show and mentioned some mutual acquaintances and he faked it through an awkward conversation. He had the rose boutonniere, and the handle bar mustache but he was much shorter and considerably younger. Apparently, Bill Mack (who was featured on the TV show "Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous" )has decided to stay home in Minneapolis and send out this , possibly his son, to do public appearances.. Of course those gated community purchasers of his work get a photo of him next to their expensive purchase thinking that they are in the company of the artist.

Smoke and Mirrors or outright fraud? Tonight and tomorrow for his exhibit.