Critic Reviews
Mixed
Based on 7 reviews on
In development as a series for HBO
Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick met in 2006 at London's Goldsmiths University where they became best friends. By 2007 they had started I&O Fine Art.
Orlando would eventually set up his own gallery and watch as Inigo quickly immersed himself in a world of private jets and multimillion-dollar deals for major clients. Inigo seemed brilliant, but underneath the extravagant façade, his complicated financial schemes were unraveling. With debt, lawsuits, and court summonses piling up, Inigo went into a tailspin of lies and subterfuge. At around the same time, Orlando would himself experience a nervous breakdown and leave the art world for good. By 2019 things had spiraled enough out of control for Inigo to flee to the remote island nation of Vanuatu, 300 miles west of Fiji. Within a year, he was arrested by the FBI and extradited to America, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison for having committed more than $86 million in fraud.
All That Glitters is at once a shocking and compulsive story of ambition and downfall, a cautionary tale, and an intimate portrait of friendship and its loss.
Brandon Taylor is an author.
My very very very favorite book this year was ALL THAT GLITTERS by Orlando Whitfield. That book is astonishing. Brilliant. Funny. Deeply felt. Everyone should go read it immediately.
"Studded with blue-chip names, multi-million-dollar paintings, private jets and bottles of Dom Pérignon ’08, this tantalizing glimpse by a former dealer into the art world’s most rarefied stratum doubles as a cautionary tale about a largely unregulated industry where hubris, greed and fraud abound."
"At its core, All That Glitters is a story about friendship... It’s a story about art, the art market and disillusionment. Our relationships – to other people, to objects and, in this specific case, to money – can make and break us."
"The art world revealed in this delicious, sharp and often breathtaking memoir is one of excess and illusion those of us outside it can barely imagine, and Whitfield unveils it nimbly and wisely. Funny, juicy, wistful and sad, it's destined to be one of the books of 2024." --Megan Nolan, author of Acts of Desperation and Ordinary Human Failings