A dual review of seven pieces currently on view at Frieze, NADA and Select. Ms. Mountain, an artist, writer and comedian, and SSION (also known as Cody Critcheloe) an artist, director, and sometimes musician take on Puppies Puppies, Steven Gagnon, Chloe Wise, Elizabeth Jager, D’Ette Nogle, Kai Schiemenz, Unknown performers, Josh Faught, Genieve Figgis and Peter Coffin.
Puppies Puppies, dead monster with leeches. Courtney Blades, NADA
SSION
tis a shame that people still don’t know
a beautiful doll
the king of pop
a monster on the ground?
give me a break
MJ, the saint
ARTPOP:
too late.
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
Are these explaining to me how whiteness is tantamount to death, to a type of death cry that one experiences while reaching for an unattainable goal? Because if so, yes. My ego wants to die on the floor alongside Nosferatu.
Steven Gagnon, Composition in Red (cut out figure with candy apple red shoes) at Selects
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
MmmmmmmmNO. So statement-y its vacuous, and I’m not sure he gets to be the one making that statement. Will probably be snapped up by some moneyed millennial for display in the lobby of his (yes, his) boutique motels.
SSION
when i was a model
things were okay
just, okay.
Chloe Wise “Ain’t no Challah Back (Pack) Girl” Galerie Division, NADA
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
If I had a boutique motel, I would commission one of these for each room and the continental breakfast would be gluten-free, just to drive the point home. This could have the emotional weight of David Hammons “In the Hood” but its too busy being cute, and it makes me feel bad for sort of not liking it, so its a no.
SSION
LOVE FASHION!
LOVE BREAD!
FUNCTIONAL?
GODDAMN,
I HOPE
SO.
Elizabeth Jager, Maybe We Die So Love Doesn’t Have To, 2015, Hydrocal, latex paint, hair. Jack Hanley gallery, NADA
SSION
I promised myself a perfect example
of what it feels like to love…
before you kill.
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
Why are people so obsessed with boner cartoon figuration lately? I feel like this is giving me the finger, or it wants to. The faces are smug! Its doing-contact-improv-in-the-park-on-a-nice-day smug! I think Jager could have done more with the hair, but I still like it even though it seems like it fucking hates me.
D’Ette Nogle, Banner (California Olive Oil is Superior), 2015, Clifton Benevento at Frieze
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
On some level, art about restaurants and food is about waste, and sometimes it seems like food is wasted in the process of making a statement about waste. I like this detached, robotic comestible apparatus. It pairs nicely with the voice in my head stage-whispering OH GOD IS THAT OLIVE OIL GOING TO GO RANCID IN THERE DON’T WASTE IT.
SSION
john belushi
comes back from the dead
a bob fosse ex
only to see
nothing ever changes
it only gets more grey.
Kai Schiemenz at Galerie Eigen + Art Leipzig at Frieze
SSION
a surreal (?)
psychedlic (?)
(loose) narrative
takes place on top of a makeshift mountain of fool’s gold
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
Again with the lingams! This, though, is like the perfect lover. I could wake up to this every day and never tire of gazing into its faces. I want to ask it out for a drink, hug it after a few too many, send it embarrassing emails, tell it things like “I don’t know who I am around you.”
Unknown performers. Select Art Fair
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
Glad to see tyvek suits and expressionlessness getting some traction. Why is that one person wearing a scarf? Did they not get the memo? Show me the memo, because at one point I did actually draft a memo to performers about tyvek suits and I want to make sure that we are not on the same page.
SSION
something should always burst into flames
all those chords – yet
no rock and roll…
someone turn a light on
and pray.
SSION
something should always burst into flames
all those chords – yet
no rock and roll…
someone turn a light on
and pray.
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
LOVELY. Dense, magical, vibrating. Each container, perfectly abraded like perfect beach glass, is playing a tone. Can someone dumpster-dive me a synesthetic gamelan? Oh wait, its right here.
Genieve Figgis, title unknown, oil on canvas, at Half Gallery, NADA
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
Finally something all drippy and smuckered out. This is sort of what I see when I look at the paintings these paintings are referencing, so I’m glad that I’m not seeing them in person because I’d probably laugh out loud, or “LOL” as they say, out of relief, and that could be confusing for everyone.
SSION
how very…
nice,
france
uh million years ago
or so it seems
frosting melts
sometimes.
Peter Coffin, Untitled (Alphabet), Ida Ekblad, a day of toll, and Nicole Wermers, Untitled Chair. Herald St. Frieze Fair
SSION
i can’t believe
wolf of wall street was considered a comedy!?
i assumed it was a drama.
LEXIE MOUNTAIN
AI have to agree with Cody on this one. Proof that you CAN be too rich and too thin, it will literally kill you, and not just because it will make you terrible.
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Yes very good. You can tell this work will fetch top dollar at the art fair. I am learning about comtemporary artists with the book Vitamin P. New artists are avaiable for viewing every week in New York City. You can go to the art openings and enjoy wine and cheese. Peter Coffin triggers memories of Ugo Rondilone’s world famous artworks. Thanks.
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