Art Fag City at The L Magazine: This Home Décor Show Needs More Damien Hirst!

Installation view of the Baghdad Batteries at David Zwirner. Photo: AFC

This week at The L Magazine I discuss two exhibitions that will close today. The teaser below:

I’ve seen better art this month than I have through a majority of the winter, a rarity to be sure. This is the off-season in the art world, which typically means shows made up of leftovers from the backroom and the ever-popular “I’m-inviting-a-bunch-of-my-friends-to-exhibit-with-me” show concept. Only occasionally do either of these approaches yield positive results, so it’s good to see a departure from these summer norms.

Since two of the better shows in Chelsea will close this week, I’ve singled them out for review. First up on the tour is curator Olivia Shao’s re-presented temporary show from PS1, The Baghdad Batteries, at David Zwirner. She adds to this a new exhibition titled The Evryali Score which responds to Baghdadthrough aesthetics and conceit; elements of home décor and hardware coupled with vague critiques of capitalism are carried over.

In my review of PS1’s Greater New York I had a lot of positive words for the Baghdad Batteries; I liked the theme of making something out of something else, and the smart art selection didn’t hurt either. This time around though, the objects are a little too small for Zwirner’s large space, even if the quality of light the gallery provides is a huge improvement from the yellow educational lighting of PS1. Shao also adds a greatMarcel Broodthaers to the mix: “Musée d’ Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, Section Financière (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles, Financial Section) Gold Bar Stamped with the Image of an Eagle, 1970-71.” The title is a bit of mouthful, especially since the piece is simply a gold bar placed on top of a cheap red valor pillow in a rinky-dink vitrine. The useless lock on the glass case is an amusing touch—presumably the gallery aura is repellant to petty thieves, so there’s no real need to protect a piece of obvious value.

The full review here.