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Laurel Nakadate's PS1 Show Opens
The Laurel Nakadate show opens at PS1 this weekend, and I have never "loved" her but when I think about her work, I think maybe she is the artist of our time in many ways? (Or maybe Andrea Fraser is, given that her piece "Untitled," from 2003, was documentation of her having sex with a collector who paid $20,000 for it. ("It" being the piece and the sex; same thing.) Because, what else is there to say?) Nakadate, slightly later, embarked on a great video series where she documented going home with strangers. Anyway, this should be seen! (There's tons of stuff on her website to get a taste.)
Chicken.
The exploration of how female sexuality and the male gaze can interweave to form a bidirectional power relation is a telling feminist commentary, and I expect this piece will be very well received by her BFA committee.
(Snark being snarked, I'm totally going. Because these videos give me a borderline panic attack, meaning she's doing something right. Also, because Burger Garage!)
(Burger Garage!!)
This reminds me of how I once went to a show at PS 122, set in the front row, and ended up getting this really nice and slow kissing action from an actress, as part of the performance (she was saying "forty one" repeatedly just before it, which changed to "forty two" after it). You'd think that would make it worth the price of admission, but I was there on a "second date" with this girl I liked, and who (in spite of laughing the thing off at the time) never went out with me again, which was a real bummer. (I feel like I should add that all the people involved in this story are attractive, which makes it cool rather than pathetic, right?)
Do you think the Fraser piece would have been as well-received if she wasn't, well, hot? If nothing else, that was some fairly good "erotica". I don't know that her willingness to disrobe (not the first time she's done it) isn't tied to a bit to a need for affirmation seeking gazes. Or simple exhibitionism.
She is one of my favorite artists nonetheless. The V-Girls stuff is awesome. And I did like the conceptual obviousness of "Untilted", I just think she could have raised the stakes a little more on the consumption/distribution side.
It would have been a lot more interesting to me if she wasn't 'hot' actually, yes!
If by "hot" you mean "all right" … It would all be a lot more human if she weren't "hot," but then you would lose the cruelty. And what is there to be fascinated by in these, besides the cruelty?
@Tulletilsynet There's such an obvious answer to your question here, but I haven't watched anything besides the VBS video above, so I don't know if Nakadate (or Fraser, or whoever else might be doing this these days) is even exploring it. But that answer is: the moments in which the distance between the nubile young female and the lonely "pathetic" people she's interacting with is diminished by sheer physical proximity. I'm not even talking about the unwanted physical contact that seems an inevitable consequence of art like this (cf. "Looking For Mr. Goodbar"), just… the moments when the artist, and by extension the viewer, are forced to look at these men with a sympathetic eye. Because they are humans, after all, and there is real pathos there.
But who knows? I've never even heard of any of this stuff before now. Maybe everyone involved in this little niche of the art world is working strenuously to avoid any of those actual connective human moments. The cynical side of me would not be surprised.
@Tulletilsynet I think you are misreading my comment. I didn't watch this video. I was talking about Fraser.
@NinetyNine: What would you say is the difference between exhibitionism and the need for affirmation seeking gazes? Specificity, or…?
I don't think exhibitionism is gendered, so to speak. Opposed to art school antics or burlesque, which always have a sheen to 'look at me' in a singular way. People who are exhibitionist want undifferentiated attention. So yeah, affirmation seeking is more specific.
ugh, I remember sitting at a dealer friend's desk when he opened Crewdson's envelope with Nakadate's demo DVD in it.
The only piece of hers with any balls [so to speak] was the video of her in a girl scout uniform sitting on her roof, with the WTC Towers smoking behind her. Clearly stone cold diva madness, the Marina Abramovic of her generation.
So yes, I'll take one Team Fraser Tee, XL.
Her work is reminiscent of early Ed Powers.
After commenting, I did the dishes and figured it all out: Charlie Finch pays Nakadate $20,000 to make a sex tape with her.
Go ahead, you can keep that image in your brain as long as you like.
That is the sort of stakes raising I was looking for. Jesus, you're cruel.
I actually found this upsetting enough to comment. While there may be a case for her as a provocateur, and perhaps shedding some light on obvious phenomenon, she is no Miranda July, although she may indeed be wielding her sexuality like a gun for us all to see, she's doing it in such a callow way, I can't help but think her take away is something that will not contribute to our sensitivity as humans, but rather illustrates an all too common and vulgar insensitivity and crass self promotion. Hey girl, those boys don't look like the only losers to me, and as a girl – known on occasion to be a hot one – I would like to publicly discredit all you seem to represent. Basically, like the worst of new york. Sorry if that's harsh and there may be some merit to what this girl accomplishes, but by the same token the same might be said for some really foul right wingers who show themselves up and in doing so enlighten us all. I hope your "art" matures and develops because right now… you pretty much sicken me. And not in a good, even pervy way. Almost reminded of like the hipster grifter or something, if she's been a little more savey. I just get a bad feeling about this person's vibe! Sketchy and skeevy even more than the dudes who could be considered victims of society even if they may not be super cool themselves (or might be, just not lady bait). If there was a rich dude showing desperate women in "a power exchange" would that be "art"? Even if it "made us uncomfortable to watch" or brought out many of our own feelings and thoughts to bear? Maybe it would depend on the rich dude. To which I say again, I get a bad feeling about this girl's intentions which seem to me like nyc bullshit climberistic and negative.
And just as an addendum to those who might say she is "authentic" and exploring "real feelings and experiences" I just want to say, I feel really strongly that this "moment" she experiences exists only in the context of it providing her an identity as an artist and is really very psuedo authentic and not in a self aware way. I don't think she's sharing a real moment, but has very present in her mind the "meaning" of that "moment" that she shares, and that meaning is… "I'm so great I'm an artist look at me (now I'm validated, at your expense, thanks guys! It's been real!)" I don't think she's self aware enough to realize this, I'm pretty close to positive that she's buying her own bullshit. But that doesn't mean other people should buy into it and validate it. We have such a cruel and cutthroat culture that hurts everybody and gets in the way of a healthy sense of self identity and self worth — even the so-called "winners". Our artist are needed to help us get past that stupidity, the lame social stratification that limits and injures our spirit. Not to profit from them. I'm all for exploring, and exploring issues of gender and identity and power and relationships in general. I think you do need some self awareness to do this honestly and "authentically". Maybe you don't, but it doesn't change the fact that this is mean, not "honest"… I mean, yeah, it's honest. But what does it say? Pretty (even somewhat) girls have power over socially clumsy "losers" and might deign to hang out with them but only to create their "art project"? Gee, what insight! I NEVER knew… thanks for clearing that up. Thanks for "humanizing" them and yourself-as-object. Thanks for calling attention to the dynamic so we can glean insight into it. Except that's not what you did. You just participated in it. Pretty girl… condescends to loser. Makes video of it. If I felt like she really had a shred of actual care or consideration for their victimhood their "lowly place in society" (at least on one level,as shlubs) rather than a cold intention to use them – as they might perhaps be using you – that's not like feminist, it's anti-feminist. It's making the war worse not better (between the sexes). We need more love not more callousness. This "art" to me encourages people to continue to see things in a stupid way, rather than freeing people up to better, more interesting, fresher and original ideas.
Almost reminded of like the hipster grifter
I know! By being Asian, and not in a good, even pervy way!
Actually, the hipster grifter was asian, true, but she is also one of the most famous icons of the hipster underbelly, a symbol that it's not all enlightened progressive emma goldman dancing (maybe minus the militanism, thanks) revolutionaries of the mind ushering in (or trying to) a better world free of unneeded intolerance that serves only to make people feel bad and instead helping us to move past our biologically-driven jungle tendencies to crush the weak. We are also biologically-driven to create and grow. Just because something is a default setting doesn't mean it's the only option. Hipsters represent a shining beacon of hope. That hey it's ok to be gay! It's ok to be poor! It's ok to be ugly, it's okay to a woman with a beard. It's ok not to fit in. We may have a biological bias towards smushing those different, but, see, we don't HAVE to go with that initial ingrained tendency to fear differences. We can celebrate them! So, on the "asian" thing, I might've also been reminded cause of looks, but, hey the hipster grifter was definitely good pervey. That's all she's got to recommend her. But Nakadate's ART is in the context of just that, art. And so, judged on those merits it doesn't to me seem "wistful" and touching and sad and the other things touted, to me it just reinforces the idea that if you are not beautiful, you are unlovable. It's not really making lemons into lemonaid, ala dan savage, it's just showing a harsh look at how these men will always have to pay for sex, and not unrelated to the fact that the only people they themselves can deem worthy of sex are so-thought/called beautiful women, not others "like them" low on the totem pole and equally "repulsive". In this case, they didn't pay cash, they paid in humiliation but it's a small price, less than money, cause they're already humiliated in the culture. We witness and are aware of their humiliation daily. Nakadate doing this is ripping us off, by "showing us this" and raising her own status in doing so. They might both be asian, and they might both be rip off artists, and they might even both be pervy chicks, but I they aren't pervy cause they're asian, they're not rip off artists cause they're asain, and I might have lumped them together cause they're asian and look like a similar type the same way blonds might, but I lumped them together BECAUSE they are both kind of scammy/scamming. YOU lumped them together in the ASIAN/SEX/pervy category. They have an identity BEYOND asian, and a WELL ESTABLISHED identity. AS SCAMMERS (not asian scammers, just, scammers) (well, one does, anyway… and I was drawing a parallel to the other). That identity supersedes their racial identity. Asianness is not the salient fact. Nor is an asian/asian-sex-girl meme. Asians can be sexy, nerdy, lusty, funny, grumpy, smart, dumb… just cause these two are both asian doesn't mean they both have to fit, confirm or not confirm, the sexy asian girl stereotype. Asians have a full identity just like muscular white guys. I just really resent that you associated what I said with an asian-sexy-girl meme, rather than these two people profited off of sex in a way ANY girl could, and they HAPPEN to be asian, but that isn't their main identity by any means. She's not famous for being asian, or an asian grifter. She's just famous for being a grifter. Nakadate's prolly only half asian, cause she looks like a brown haired caucasian girl to me.
I was going to defend Nakadate by saying that considering how silly and insignificant her work is, your criticism of it is a bit too serious and over the top, but I am now deciding to reserve that defense for my little joke up there.
Commenttrees, and other detractors: Did you ever think that what she is doing might expand into her own middle-age? I’m uncomfortably comfortable viewing her work which seems to be her goal and seems to be fully achieved.
FWIW, the last time I felt this kind of skin-crawling attraction/repulsion was during the 2008 MoMA Lucian Freud show. So that has to mean something if you think my reaction to things means anything.
I hope she does, and I did mention that, but I also hope that the "work" she's doing now does serve to impact us in a thought provoking way. I see in interviews that she is drawn to feeling uncomfortable, so maybe she's got great artistic instincts that are just a little bit hidden behind a shallow sense of self. I hope that is what prevails… and probably it will. But I still feel uncomfortable about what's being said here (in the "art") in a different way than maybe Lucian Freud. I don't trust the artist here, Nakadate, I'm not sure she's leading us down a good path, or just down her own need for attention.
Just came back from the PS1 show. And I am pretty impressed with it all. The photos on their own seem self-centered and without context. But then you see the videos and there is a context: She's pretty close to being just as lonely as the subjects. And then when I looked at the photos again afer viewing the videos, the photos seem less self-centered and more focused on her being alone; interrupted only by sporadic "fever dream" pics.
When she's dancing alone in various locales, 100% nobody is there. When she's just being herself, suddenly "lonely guys" want to interact with her. At least most of the time. The time she has "deeper" interactions with the guys she meets, she's infantilizing herself with faux birthday parties and "let’s pretend" false dramas.
Fascinating stuff. But I genuinely wonder what the next stage is?
Oh, also, PS1 MoMA tech crew: You need to get longer headphone wires. Standing 3 feet away from an LCD TV is pretty much as awkward as awkward can get.
It seems intent on importance. It seems terribly cold. Is that the point?
"If readers simply believe the world is stupid and shallow and mean, then [Bret] Ellis can write a mean shallow stupid novel that becomes a mordant deadpan commentary on the badness of everything. Look man, we’d probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it."
David Foster Wallace (via Nerdshares, via Norton)
I think this quote really applies here and that Laurel Nakadate is the Ellis figure here. Her work does give the impression this artist is a "stone cold diva" as noted above. I do not "like" this work for that reason. Stone cold diva's really aren't my thing in a world increasingly overrun with them. And i think other artists have engaged in relationships with the 'downcast' we'll call them, in much more meaningful ways that extend beyond them 'having a good time checking out my sexy body.' Donigan Cumming, for example.
But i agree, this work is of it's time, so yeah, awesome. And I love this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNtWstWX5Lg
One important difference, whether it's relevant or not, I don't know, but Ellis suffered in writing American Psycho, he bled artistically for it. It was not the work of a callous mind, but a work of artistic torture that drew deeply from the soul. So, that might be a distinction that makes a difference. Maybe not.
Maybe for you? It seems that maybe you disparage the work of Laurel Nakadate much more than i do? I am not sure "bleeding" for your work is always a part of the artistic process for every artist and it's not relevant to demand that for every artist. Certainly she is invested in what she is doing, and she does pay a price for it.
She's also not that old, so i am going to cut her some slack that the work might develop more over time? Which could be interesting. The ground work is certainly there.
The comparison to big name feminist artists is shocking and premature at this point, but that's as far as i am going here. I don't "like" this work because i think it's about an inch deep, but a lot of interesting art is pretty shallow and relies on the culture around it to give it meaning, and meaning it gives. That's not really the worst case scenario for a work of art.
In fact, i can think of a lot worse art than this, like to a staggering degree, so yeah.
She seems to have ideas, and commitment to them, that's for sure. And I have no doubt the criticisms here–much like the artist–are new to me, but not to her.
So, she's a new subject for study, to me, anyhow. But I'm studying, and I'm not seeing compassion, either overtly, or commented thereon, and that is a quick way for me to lose interest in someone's art.
Thank you Comments for the void, the Wallace quote is really appropriate here IMHO, gets right at what is the problem with this sort of shallow, self-indulgent and immature so-called artwork. I have often wondered why someone seemingly primarily interested in sociology, psychology, and the like chooses for himself the vehicle of fine art to express these ideas – then makes a product void of aesthetic value to boot. It seems misdirected, confused.