Stefan Simchowitz, the art collector, dealer and advisor best known for flipping the works of young artists working primarily with digital media, has announced that he is running for the US Senate. He is searching to be elected to the seat left vacant by Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who died last September. On the website simchowitzforsenate.com, the collector is described as ‘an outsider who is running for United States Senate as a Republican candidate for those who love the spirit of family individualism, hard work and friendship. Stefan wants to work together to fix the many problems facing the Golden State and to make sure America’s core values of the enlightenment, free speech and democracy remain intact and prosperous.’
The South Africa–born, Los Angeles–based Simchowitz told The Art Newspaper that he is a ‘Don Quixote character’ and that he knows his chances of winning as a Republican in Democratic state, against established politicians vying for the seat, are slim. He is running, he explains ‘to introduce a new centrist way of thinking’ and running as a Republican because he believed he had no chance of creating this kind of change within the Democratic Party, which he describes as ‘such a tightly organised machine’.
A new instagram account for the social media–loving collector and now-politician, @simchowitzforsenate, was opened eight weeks ago. It currently has 361 followers. It all seems doomed to fail, but then, Christopher Glazek closed his very memorable cover story for the New York Times Magazine about Simchowitz (titled ‘The Art World’s Patron Satan’) by stating that ‘it would be a mistake to doubt his determination’.
