PALPABLE HOAX

"Dom Martin is a young and unknown painter from Goa who claims not only to be listed in several international directories but also to be a doctor of philosophy, of letters and of science, as also knight of the royal order of Piast!

Cymroza art gallery on Bhulabhai Desai Road, which shows his work devoted to the subject of "Humanity -1 (Biography)" till Monday, thus shares the responsibility of promoting a palpable hoax and this is most surprising.

In retrospect, it is even more surprising that Mr. K.H. Ara of the Artists' Centre, who once took the lead in unmasking a similar fraud in the city's art world, was the first to promote Martin first at a show in his Centre.

Art galleries owe a duty to the public. While they have all the freedom to house bad art - as in the current case - they should not become a party to purveying fraudulent information about the artists they shelter."

 

Times of India, March 26, 1978