Reflections on Torch - from Steven Lowy (1)

First Meeting

I first met Adriaan at the ArtCologne of 1989. He was hard to miss.

He was exhibiting three artists, as I remember it. Servaas Kunsthandel was showing stacked cans of FishAir. Ingold Airlines featured a mock up of their airplane hangar, complete with windsock, and the Banco di Oklahoma was selling securities in a manner not unlike that which recently brought down the American economy. Basically, the gallery was exhibiting three conceptual art corporations, artwork indebted to my hero, Marcel Duchamp.

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Then there was Adriaan, a giant of a man, whose shoes were immense and whose shirt , fastened with a bolo tie adorned with an image of Jesus Christ, was always soiled at the solar plexus from fast food eaten too quickly at the fair between sales. My assistant that year, my best friend Bill Rogers, who I had invited to join me because of his impeccable German, agreed that we had to get to know this guy. Of course, Adriaan also had a gorgeous assistant. Bill’s mission - to meet the assistant and arrange a gallerist dinner.

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So began what would be an amazing twenty year adventure with the man we lovingly called El Torcho, his rat pack and an unofficial posse20that we dubbed the A-Team.. This November would have been our twentieth anniversary as friends and conspirators. This is the first of a series of reminiscences.