Monday, October 18, 2010

Toilet humour

The Frieze Art Fair has just closed in London. New Zealand was there with Michael Lett showing Simon Denny and Hany Armanious as well as Francis Upritchard and Michael Stevenson represented by their UK dealers. Looking through the daily Frieze edition of the Art Newspaper (free every day of the fair online if you care but can’t be there) we also noted that Ricky Swallow who shows with Hamish McKay had a mention in the what-would-you-buy section and Billy Apple got this anecdote printed in full.

“Never mind the booths, veteran pop conceptualist Billy Apple found aesthetic nirvana at Frieze while on a visit to the men’s room. Apple, in London from his native New Zealand for his show at the Mayor
Gallery, singled out the 'impossibly discreet "toilet" sign' for special attention. 'The white lettering on grey is worthy of Lawrence Weiner— or the best work of On Kawara,' he enthused. Neither was he short of a snappy title for these limited edition works: Need /[slash] Relief.”