Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column with original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong – who is spending her summer in Los Angeles – at (email protected).
BASEBALL CAP FEVER IN THE ART WORLD
I think we in the art world should be proud of how much ordinary people are happy to co-opt our wares. It means that the art life is still a glamorous thing to aspire to, that we still have a certain cultural currency. Every time I see a “Milk of dreams” Venice Biennale in a cafe in Bushwick on the shoulder of someone who just graduated with a bachelor’s degree when it happened, I feel validated in our cool factor.
I mention tote bags because they are still the bread and butter of merchandising in the art world and will probably reach their peak around 2018, when New Yorkers cartoonist Will McPhail made this comic. At the moment, however, the baseball cap dominates the art world.
Last week, David Zwirner announced a hat cooperation with Mel Bochnerthe proceeds benefit democratic election campaigns throughout the United States. Cultivated The magazine team also recently launched some hats that they describe as “Dad Hats,” with simple phrases (“ART,” “CHAMBERLAIN”) or artist names on them. And Rashid Johnson designed a fisherman’s hat with the New York Mets beginning of the year.
Honestly, I think it’s time for a new Merch items – I vote for either mugs or sports socks – but bBefore the era of art hats ends, I want to pay homage to the seminal hats that got us here. Here are the six most important status hats I see circulating at art events, along with what they say about their wearers.
- Karma’s “Books” Hat
You have been in the industry for a while and you know your stuff. Your taste in art is more academic – and perhaps a little safe – but you are not above working with the people from up-and-coming galleries (as long as they have worked with a few collectors you admire). You regularly attend lectures and readings and you knew that Dolly Parton had a crush on Dave Hickey before the latest reissue of his Invisible dragon.
2. Ballroom Marfas Trucker Cap
Oh, aren’t you just a stunner? You show up to the gallery dinner after missing the opening, but that’s OK. It’s not your fault – the jitney was late – and you were invited because you have great stories to tell. You have at least 300 photos on your BFA profile, although no one knows what your job actually entails. Somehow, Ruinart does not cause a hangover.
3. Ed Ruscha “BOSS” hat
You grin self-deprecatingly when you see memes about the hard start of your relationship with a trip to Diameter: Beacon. You did that in 2015 and it was an unforgettable day! You are a member of the Whitneybut you usually skip the wall text in museums because you argue that it of your viewing experience. You have replaced your cedar shower mat from the MoMA Design Store now three times.
4. Jerry Gogosian’s Nothing Is Available hat
Oh my God, How did you find a tailor who made the blazer fit you so well? It looks like you were born in it. You spent a lot of money on your degree at the Sotheby’s Instituteso you don’t even make eye contact if there is no transaction to be made. There is no good art below 14th Street, and you were once moved to tears by a Chagall on Beyeler. Or maybe you were just exhausted.
5. Gaylord Apartments/Shirs
I’m combining these two because, speaking from personal experience, they are the equivalent of New York and Los Angeles. You’re probably a young collector like an art dealer. Regardless, you’ve spent a small fortune on your art book collection, which you often show off on your Instagram. Good art doesn’t exist above 14th Street. You’re a regular at both The river And Go crazy. Once Gavin Brown Compliments on your outfit, you like to remind people of it.
6. Hat with wet paint
Wet paint hats courtesy of the Otto 958 brand by artist Kiko Kostadinov.
The best people in the art world. Keep them close.
Some honorable mentions for posterity:
BRIAN BELOTT IS CALLING YOU
This is such a romantic time of year, isn’t it? Most galleries are either closed or closing their last summer exhibition, and I can practically hear all the Armory Show preview emails being drafted and scheduled for next week. (I’m waiting here, tail wagging for it.)
This leaves us in a rare dead zone for the exhibition of art – but not completely. The elusive and beloved New York artist Brian Belott has thrown us all a bone in the form of a performance art hotline that remains open for all your performance art wants and needs.
There have been little to no announcements about this project and I can only tell you about it because I am an avid viewer of Jamian Juliano-Villani‘s Instagram stories. Juliano-Villani (whose business partner at O’Flaherty’sartist Billy Grantfrequently collaborates with Belott), posted the following.
I called the number and heard a recorded performance by the artist. With a slightly psychedelic background music, he intoned incoherent sentences such as “We are almost past the crevasse”, “The point is glycerin. Some of the shiniest glycerin,” “manhole covers, manhole covers,” “take over the mission. Brian Belott. Oh yeah. Crazy salami… now perfecting its reach around the globe.” Finally, the conversation ends with some gurgling mouth noises and a sudden “GOODBYE!”
The last time we saw new work by Belott was two years ago at his solo exhibition at Canadawhere he presented some of the collages for which he is probably best known. (He often stores them in the refrigerator.) This piece is reminiscent of John Giorno‘s “Dial-A-Poem” project, but with a Dadaist bent that is distinctly Belott’s, and it reminds me a little of his iconic appearance at the SFiFF Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony.
“I heard that Brian set his hair on fire during a performance. That was one of the first things that caught my attention and led me to his practice,” Morán MillsBelott’s gallery owner in Los Angeles told me. He exhibited the piece in 2016 at serpentine London. Moran, Spain has represented the artist since 2015 and most recently presented a solo exhibition of his works in 2019, one year after Belott’s last exhibition with the now closed Gavin Brown’s company.
Morán told me: “From stream of consciousness, nonsense singing, fake fashion lines (George de George Haircuts Hair), I have seen it all and I can guarantee you that any project Brian takes on is worth investing time in.”
Call him and let me know what you hear.
WE HEAR
This would make any New Yorker jealous. Mazel tov! Image courtesy of an informant.
Fran Lebowitz was best man at the wedding of Francesco Clemente‘s son, AndreaAnd Michelle Molokotosa director of Nahmad Gallery… I suspect that more than a few of you can identify with this this comic by Guy Richards-Smit… leisurethe restaurant connected with The Broad in downtown LA, will permanently close its doors next month… Let’s take a moment to appreciate that Laurie Simmons And Lena Dunham gave a very cute looking cat to Jerry Saltz And Robert Smith… In my next life I want to have the job that Maeve Turner just landed: Head of the Garden and Landscape Department at The Frick Collection… Bayard Street Hotspot The river will begin offering catering services for gallery openings (at every single one of which you will find me with a white Negroni and a gourmet hot dog in hand)… Watch lovers take note: a couple of slim pieces designed by Patek Philippe from the collection of Green Naftali Co-founder Gloria Naftali are auctioned with relatively low estimated values Doyle Auctions… And finally:brat‘ Summer ends…
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