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Dali & I: The Surreal Story Audiobook
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(3.60) - 20 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Art dealer Stan Lauryssens made millions in modern art, but he sold only one name: Salvador Dalí. The surrealist painter's work was a hot commodity for the newly rich, investors, and businessmen looking to launder their black-market cash. Lauryssens didn't mind looking the other way; he just hoped the buyers would look the other way as well. The artworks he sold came from some very shady sources. And he soon discovered that the shadiest source of all was Dalí himself. The more successful Lauryssens became, the closer he got to Dalí's inner circle, until he found himself living next door to the aging artist. There, while Lauryssens hid from Interpol's detectives, he learned more about Dalí's secret history, the studio of artists who produced his work, and the money-making machine that kept Dalí's extravagant lifestyle afloat long after his creativity began to flounder.
Dalí & I offers a behind-the-scenes view of the commerce and conspiracy that can go hand-in-hand in the art world, written by a man who has been to the top only to discover it was no different than the bottom.
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"Many of Dali's bizarre practices and fetishes come to light in this strange story of how the art dealer/author greatly profited from and ended up doing jail time for selling investors fake (or, as he calls them, "fake fake") Dalis. "
— Ellen (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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Crass, callous, sordid and cynical---thus, utterly true to the spirit of Dali and a certain bestseller.
— Kirkus -
“Lauryssens, an award-winning European crime writer, boldly confesses his role in spreading the plague of phony Dalís in a jaw-dropping chronicle of jet-set swindling matched by an X-rated portrait-in-glimpses of one of the freakiest of art celebrities.”
— Booklist -
“The art market is a dark circus of hope and deceit. Lauryssens provides us with an intimate portrait of Dalí, its mustachioed ringmaster: as eccentric as he is ingenious, as manipulative as he is fascinating.”
— Noah Charney, author of The Art Thief -
“A highly readable blend of memoir and picaresque, Stan Lauryssens’s book explores the differences between the genuine and the bogus, not only in the business of art, but more important, in human relationships.”
— James Sexton, editor of Selected Letters of Aldous Huxley
Dali & I Listener Reviews
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" An entertaining tale about Dali and a Belgian con-man. Some people have hated this book - and, I suspect, its ambiguity. I didn't. Fiction or non-fiction...mmmm? "
— Barry, 2/23/2011 -
" "Lucrurile scandaloase sunt cele de care omanirea nu se va satura niciodata" <br/>Stan Lauryssens da dovada in carte de o gandire daliniana. <br/>Surrealismul e o iluzie. "
— Irismile, 5/7/2010 -
" Wow! Very entertaining book over all. Dali sure was "eccentric". "
— Kiki, 5/25/2009 -
" Salvador Dali and his wife Gala, were not good people. "
— Lauren, 5/15/2009 -
" Not very much about the Artist, I found myself reading about the same things over and over in the book. Didnt really enjoy it, but interesting to find out about someone elses view on Dali. "
— Kerry, 4/17/2009 -
" What's real and what isn't in this book is what I am wondering. Made me want to read more Dali bio's to see if all this adds up. Interesting reading. "
— Yiotula, 3/14/2009 -
" An interesting book about a man who claims to have really been around Dali. I was never quite sure whether I believed him or thought he had a really great sense of imagination. But either way this book is intriguing. "
— Alexis, 3/7/2009 -
" Not being a Dali expert, this shocked me. It actually made me want to read a bio of the painter. "
— linnea, 2/3/2009 -
" What a scam the art world can be. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. It must be rough when you don't know what to do with your money! "
— Magda, 10/16/2008
About Stan Lauryssens
Stan Lauryssens was an art dealer specializing in works by Salvador Dalí for over a decade. After spending time in prison for the sale of bogus Dalís, he turned to writing crime fiction. He won Belgium’s Hercule Poirot Award in 2002 for best crime fiction of the year. Lauryssens now divides his time between Antwerp and London.
About William Dufris
William Dufris attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland-Gorham before pursuing a career in voice work in London and then the United States. He has won more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, was voted one of the Best Voices at the End of the Century by AudioFile magazine, and won the prestigious Audie Award in 2012 for best nonfiction narration. He lives with his family in Maine.