Artist Andrew Ohanesian has installed Urinal into the side of the Pierogi Gallery booth at the Armory Show, without asking permission from the art fair. It previews today. Yes, it’s actually a urinal.
Gallerists Joseph Amrhein and Susan Swenson assure ARTINFO’s Benjamin Sutton: it’s the most standard, “ubiquitous” kind of urinal they could find. Unlike Duchamp’s vintage model, this ready-made is “functional and interactive” because it flushes as you walk away. Well, not that interactive: “It is a self-contained system and not connected to an existing on-site plumbing system.”
When Ohanesian’s blockbuster installation The House Party premiered at Pierogi’s Boiler Room in Brooklyn last year, the immaculate replica of a suburban house built inside the gallery quickly turned into a sort of Bro Sleep No More, with art world people and attending civilians possessed by the illusion of it. It was really a house party, and though I do not entirely recall the functionality level of the bathroom facilities in said “house,” I can personally account that drunken merriment had sprawled itself in a slobbering pairs and piles over mattresses, inside closets and in every available alcove. Relational Aesthetics, hoo hoo hoo hoo. And then, the dick graffiti. Obviously. For the record, I left before the windows got smashed and holes were knocked into the wall. Apparently, the artist was not entirely happy with the resulting destruction. Things got a little too wild when Brooklyn realized mom and dad aren’t coming home.
UPDATE: At the Armory press preview, Pierogi Gallerist Joseph Amrhein told me that Ohanesian’s outrage is “part of the piece,” and in effect, a bit performative? “He knew it would happen, he just hoped it wouldn’t have happened that fast,” Amerhein explained. “He was hoping the party could go on until 4am.”
Yeah, but don’t piss into the side of the Pierogi booth wall.
Don’t do it.
Don’t even think about it.
Stop thinking about it.
UPDATE 2: LOOK IT’S A VINE! (Art: Patrick Jacobs, Andrew Ohanesian). A VINE.
