I encountered “Gambini” out on my normal First Thursday route. It was the last real art gallery extravaganza of summer, and we were busy hopping from gallery to gallery taking in this month’s offerings, casually sipping on our glass of 3-buck-chuck. Gambini was hard to miss with his coke bottle glasses, giant red feathered coat, and white wig. Although, I admit, he possibly would have gone unnoticed amidst the Everett Street Gallery’s often-costumed crowd – had it not been for his entourage. Unlike the majority of First Thursday hipsters, pedaling their fixed gears, Gambini arrived in a shiny black stretch limo, which he emerged from with the flare and grandeur of royalty. There were bodyguards, photographers, videographers and assistant-type woman in pin-striped skirts and heels, flanking all sides of this red-feathered, blustery, Big Bird-esque creature.

Who is Gambini, you may ask? Well that is exactly the question. It wasn’t long before we were informed by a passing acquaintance that this spectacle of a man was the great, Olaf Gambini, a sixties artist and Warhol factory friend who had recently arrived from Italy. Needless to say, we were skeptical. So was Willamette Week. Here was their take: “Olaf Gambini has been tooling around Portland in a limo, with bodyguards, not to fool anyone but rather to create the mere aura of extreme fame: he is saintly halo without names or recognition, followed everywhere in turn by cameras determined to document the whole experiment.”

According to Gambini’s own website, he is pioneer of the Nothingist movement, popular in Italy. He is known for such renowned works as his classic diptych, “White Cat Sleeping in a Snowbank.” and its antithesis, “Black Cat Napping on a Coal Pile.” Of course, a little digging reveals that in reality, “Gambini” is the creation of a local marketing agency that was hired strictly to create and promote this character. There is no Warhol connection, no Nothingist movement, and even the bad Italian accent is indeed fake.

While some may feel scammed, and rightly so, for the blatant exploitation of a revered art figure, one must give the Gambini credit. By creating this character who is master of Nothingness, he has in fact created something. He stands proudly in his own aura faux celebrity, in one sense, snubbing fame, in another sense relishing in it.

Of course, the faux Gambini’s ideas are nothing new. After all, movements revolving around the central idea of nothingness have been prevalent across time in all sectors of our cultural landscape, from existential philosophy, to the Dada art movement, to Seinfeld. It is how Gambini has launched a persona around these ideas that is interesting. It makes me wonder, is Gambini in effect mocking these ideas? Is he mocking fame & the celebrity state? Or his he simply just mocking himself? Regardless, I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Gambini, just follow the trail of red feathers.