Combining realist fiction with strains of truthiness, Rinus Van de Velde harnesses our contemporary compulsion for storytelling for its own sake, stating, “although the stories I create are fictional, I still try to believe in them.” But he also employs fiction as a literary device to undercut a host of cultural clichés. Unafraid of irony, reflexivity, and the old fashioned morality tale, “Dear David Johnson,” one chapter in an ever-developing fake autobiography, examines art world perversions and other bewildering ontological issues embedded in the creation of art. Undercurrents of social networking collide with postmodern critical theory in Van de Velde’s floor-to-ceiling wall-written pages. The all-over hand-scribed text is punctuated with charcoal drawings that loosely illustrate the seven-paragraph letter of nearly a thousand words, to the fictional curator David Johnson. Engulfing the gallery, the installation of text and images creates a dramatic and dwarfing effect on the viewer, as if one has been dropped onto the parchment of an artist’s journal. Addressed to David Johnson, the letter dated August 26th, 1963, is an apology and a defense for missing a scheduled appointment with the curator. In the grip of an existential crisis albeit an old artist-genius cliché, the author of the letter, …