Steven Nesbitt | Extract from Hudojnik
At first glance, the small public storage unit located on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida wouldn’t seem a likely place to uncover hidden treasure. No one would have ever guessed that behind the simple roll-up door and cheap lock laid a collection of fine canvasses hidden from the public eye for more than twenty years.
It was in this unobtrusive setting on a dismal overcast day in July of 2004 that Mac found the treasure that he had been actively searching for years, the collection of nearly two hundred paintings by the renowned Russian artist, Ivan Garikow.
In the early 1990s, Mac worked as a special agent in Dublin, Ireland. The nature of his clandestine work required him from time to time to investigate major crimes and international art thefts. Soon, Mac found himself developing an interest in fine art.
It was through his reviewing of Davenport’s Art Reference artist index that he first became aware of Ivan Garikow. “The pictures of Garikow’s work intrigued me. His work had character and great skill, but when I re-searched him there wasn’t a lot written about the man. It was like he had suddenly vanished,” he recalled.
The sudden disappearance of Russian artist Garikow appealed to his investigative instincts. Soon, he had managed to piece together some specific information regarding Garikow’s early life, but then suddenly, the story came to an abrupt halt.
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No one was exactly sure what had happened to the artist. It seemed the Art world lost sight of Ivan Garikow. Not long after Mac admittedly ran out of information, his perseverance paid off. He noticed that occasionally Garikow paintings would appear for sale over the Internet from private sellers. This puzzled him. “I had found it difficult to believe that an artist as talented as Ivan Garikow would have simply stopped painting, and there was no evidence to suggest that he had died young,” Mac continued, “I realized there was a good chance that most of his paintings were unknown to the European art community.”
After retiring he decided to relocate to Florida. He was looking for a quiet life, some sunshine, and the Garikow collection. In 2001, another Garikow painting was auctioned off in Orlando. He contacted the auctioneer and was told that the seller was Ivan’s son, Arnold, but he had left no forwarding address.
Months later, Mac attended another Garikow showing where he met Arnold. It was during these meetings that he learned what had really happened to Ivan after his disappearance. (The full story is now documented in Ivan’s biography “Hudojnik by Steven Nesbitt” ) (amazon.com). In 2003, Arnold decided to sell the entire collection as his health was failing. Mac knew that a large percentage of Ivan’s collection had never been seen by anyone. It was, in fact, a lost treasure chest of paintings that was about to be rediscovered; however, he had no idea of the grandeur of Ivan’s collection. It was magnificent. “Discovering this master artist’s lost col-lection was almost like discovering a Pharaoh’s tomb for the very first time. I knew these pieces of fine art had not seen the light of day since the artist created them,” he exclaimed.
Over the next few months, he and Arnold catalogued Ivan Garikow’s complete collection. The storage shed also contained personal belongings and documents pertaining to Ivan’s life. There were photographs, refugee papers, handwritten notes and newspaper clippings, but what surprised him the most was seeing the artist’s cremated remains laying there. It was as if Ivan was still guarding and protecting his collection of paintings, his life’s work.
Life is stranger than fiction.
On the day that Mac took possession of Ivan Garikow’s art collection and Arnold took his father’s ashes elsewhere, it marked the first time that Ivan had ever been separated from his paintings, both in life and in death. Oddly enough, in September of 2004, just a few weeks after the ashes of artist Garikow had been separated from his paintings, Orlando was hit with the sixth strongest category 5 hurricane on record, and its name,
