Update

(Courtesy of Michael Auger)

Why are Artomatic's anonymous pranksters always so turfy? And so quick to draw us into the drama? Two phantom letter-writers are claiming to be "the Benefactor" who's sending fan notes and $1 bills to artists at the annual fair. Now, as with last year's "Collector," the Benefactor (or someone claiming to be him/her) has sent us a pair of letters telling us to ignore all poseurs, he/she is the one, whoever he/she is. To prove it: a list of the 30 artists who he/she says got the $1 letters. Glad that's settled! Some backlash on the ArtDC.org forum: "If you are doing something anonymously, what do you care if other people are taking credit anonymously?" wrote one artist. But another writer was touched by "the herculean effort that it would take to track down addresses, stuff envelopes with letters and single $1 bills, mail them, pay for it all, etc."