JULY 3, 2008
A brilliant artist
paints himself into
a corner, again
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 TV: The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale |
“I am a great artist.” Such braggadocio would typically induce some serious eye-rolling (Whadda jerk!). But by the time the subject of the superb new documentary The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale (debuting 7/7 on HBO) makes that claim, during the film’s closing moments, it rings both tragically sad and hopeful — not to mention spot-on.
Chuck Connelly was/is a painter — a contemporary of Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat back in the go-go eighties, and the man Scorsese picked to coach Nick Nolte for New York Stories (those are Connelly’s hands in the artist-at-work close-ups). Then his difficult — and often scary — personality managed to alienate everyone in the art world, whose gatekeepers conspired (in his opinion) to banish him forever.
During the dense, hour-long film, we watch, guiltily absorbed, as the volcanic Connelly gets dumped by his wife, his gallery, and his patron. In the end comes this priceless moment: A desperate Connelly hires a young actor to play him — and sends the impostor out to drum up sales for a vast and truly amazing portfolio.
HBO’s website and watch clips from The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale
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