When he first mentioned the prospect of 'retirement' my first reaction was glee.
Artists are notoriously competitive. Often in a mean-spirited way. Though we have been friends and colleagues for over 30 years, my good friend David Schoffman always makes me uneasy. I could never rid myself of the feeling of being judged. Schoffman makes me feel like a fraud. He makes me feel stupid.
By any conventional metric, his career must be seen as insignificant to the point of non-existent. When I compare my professional stature with his it's like comparing Michael Jordan with an overweight, 40-year old suburban dad playing horse in the driveway. And yet David makes me feel so dreadfully insecure.
So when Schoffman confided in me his plans to hang up his brushes for good I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out if there were others out there who also felt the sting of his silent rebukes. That is the genesis of
I asked a selected group of Schoffman's closest friends to write a short encomium for publication. I was struck by the lack of enthusiasm that greeted my repeated requests. It took over two years to get 12 responses. Most were lukewarm. Some were overtly hostile.
I felt vindicated.
I urge all of my readers to buy the book because they include about 15 beautiful watercolors by me.
