Shchukin

Since last weekend, when we crossed paths with the infamous Anna Delvey at a group show in Tribeca, we decided to pay tribute to con artists who have forced the art world to confront its own illusions.

Meet Mark Landis—the man who pulled off one of the most bizarre art scams in history without ever making a dime.

For over 30 years, he donated fake paintings to museums, walking in as a grieving heir, a priest, a generous benefactor. No elaborate forgeries. No aged canvases. Just cheap acrylics, dollar-store frames, and a good sob story.

And the museums? They took them. Again and again. Because in the end, they weren’t just collecting art—they were collecting narratives.

Landis never faced charges. Instead, he got a documentary—Art and Craft—immortalizing his trickery.

The real scam? That the institutions who claim to define authenticity got played by a man with a Walmart paint set.

MARCH 7: PIET MONDRIAN—THE ARTIST WHO DECONSTRUCTED REALITY INTO LINES AND COLORS

(No Curves. No Chaos. Just Grids, Primary Hues, and the Pursuit of Universal Harmony.)

Piet Mondrian didn’t just paint; he reduced the world to its essence.

He saw the mess of existence and thought:
“What if we could strip it all down? What if we could find the core?”

So, he did.

THE JOURNEY FROM REPRESENTATION TO ABSTRACTION
• Early Life: Born March 7, 1872, in Amersfoort, Netherlands, Mondrian was introduced to art by his father, a drawing teacher, and his uncle, a painter. 
• Initial Works: His early paintings were rooted in the Dutch landscape, depicting windmills, fields, and rivers in a naturalistic style. 
• Shift to Abstraction: Influenced by Cubism and his spiritual studies in Theosophy, Mondrian began to abstract natural forms, leading to his distinctive style of straight lines and primary colors. 

THE DE STIJL MOVEMENT
• Co-Founder: In 1917, Mondrian co-founded De Stijl (“The Style”), a Dutch artistic movement advocating for pure abstraction and simplicity, focusing on essential forms and colors. 
• Neoplasticism: Mondrian’s art evolved into Neoplasticism, characterized by a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the use of primary colors, aiming to express universal beauty. 

THE LEGACY OF ORDER

Mondrian’s work wasn’t just about art; it was about a philosophy. He believed that by reducing art to its basic elements, one could achieve a form of universal harmony.

His influence permeates not only painting but also architecture, design, and fashion, embodying the quest for order amidst chaos.

MARCH 5: GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO—THE PAINTER WHO MADE REALITY BEND TO HIS WILL

(No Gravity. No Structure. Just Light, Spectacle, and the Art of the Impossible.)

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo did not paint ceilings.

He destroyed them.

He turned them into gateways, into open air, into divine illusions so overwhelming that no one ever thought to look at what was actually holding the roof up.

He was not a man.
He was a magician.

A conjurer with a brush, making entire palaces levitate, turning rooms into visions, dissolving walls with the sheer force of color and movement.

His art never sat still—it soared, swirled, burst, defied gravity itself.

And that’s why he still matters.

Because Tiepolo’s world wasn’t painted.

It was conjured.

THE TRICK: HOW TIEPOLO ERASED ARCHITECTURE

Venice in 1696 was already a city of illusions.

It floated on water.
It was ruled by money but worshipped spectacle.
It made its own myths and lived inside them.

And Tiepolo?

He understood the assignment.

The Baroque was already a performance, but Tiepolo took it further:
• Ceilings didn’t just have paintings—they opened into heaven itself.
• Figures didn’t just sit in frames—they floated above you, looking down, daring you to believe in something bigger than yourself.
• Light didn’t just illuminate—it flooded the room, pouring in from skies that never existed.

He took foreshortening—the Renaissance trick of making things look like they’re moving toward you—and pushed it past the breaking point.

Look up at a Tiepolo ceiling.

Angels aren’t placed in the composition—they’re diving straight at you.
Clouds aren’t painted in the background—they’re about to pull you in.
Every line, every brushstroke says the same thing: “This is real.”

Except, of course, it isn’t.

That’s the joke. That’s the genius.