Who Is the Instagrammer Behind This Oddball Coverage of the Peter Doig Trial?

Loyola Condenser's stunning photographs accompany trenchant commentary.

Peter Doig insists that he didn't paint the painting in question. Photo: film still via YouTube.

What started in December 2015 as an anonymous Instagram account devoted to often gorgeous photographs of Lake Michigan and the skies above it recently turned into a venue for opinionated analysis of the trial of Scottish-born painter Peter Doig.

In the trial, the plaintiffs, former corrections officer Robert Fletcher and Chicago art dealer Peter Bartlow, claim that Doig painted a canvas now in Fletcher’s possession while incarcerated as a teen. Doig disavows the work, which an art expert at the trial estimated would now be worth $6 million–$8 million if genuine.

Loyola Condenser, so named for an apparatus that appears on a rooftop in the foreground and presumably for its creator’s institutional affiliation, attended the trial most days and offered some tart commentary.

Among the art-world figures now following the account are Wall Street Journal reporter Kelly Crow, White Columns director Matthew Higgs, and Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin.

See some examples of the trial coverage below, as we attempt to figure out who is this mystery character, and what guides her or him to create such an account. It’s a great moment of summer reading, regardless.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.

Share

Article topics
Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.

You are currently logged into this Artnet News Pro account on another device. Please log off from any other devices, and then reload this page continue. To find out if you are eligible for an Artnet News Pro group subscription, please contact [email protected]. Standard subscriptions can be purchased on the subscription page.

Log In