Awesome Bowie Notes No 1.

William Boyd collaborated with David Bowie - published this book as a hoax, presented as a real biography. "Nat Tate" is a combination of the names of two London art galleries, the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery. Boyd and his conspirators set about convincing the New York glitterati (social elites) that the reputation of this influential abstract expressionist needed to be re-evaluated.

Bowie held a launch party on April Fool's Day eve, 1998 and read extracts from the book, while someone talked about Tate's friendships with both Picasso and Braque.

About a week later, journalist David Lister,said that no one he spoke to claimed to know Tate well, but no one claimed not to have heard of him. In reality, it appears that few were fooled and most of the big names in the arts world (including artists, collectors, art historian, art dealers, New York based writers like Paul Auster, and editors of literary journals) quickly realized that Nat Tate was a complete fake and that they had been the victims of an elaborate setup.

Karen Wright, one of Bowie's co-directors at 21 Publishing, said the hoax was not meant to be malicious: "Part of it was, we were very amused that people kept saying 'Yes, I've heard of him.' There is a willingness not to appear foolish. Critics are too proud for that. Wahahahahahah

so all those fancy schmancy gallery owners, collectors - FUCK YOU.

self potrait by The Goblin King, Ziggy Stardust, The Great Thin Duke, Tesla personal collection of Cameron Crowe.