Review

A review of Hott Sheets

Detail of installation view of several of the 94 works on paper, 7" x 5", in "Hott Sheets," showing the accompanying value assessment methodology forms. Image: courtesy of the gallery

Wonder Fair Gallery / Shoppe / Studio
Lawrence, Kansas
June 25 — July 25, 2010

Hott Sheets has all the ingredients to be a cool exhibition: it’s in a cool gallery, in a cool location, with a bunch of cool work. But what exactly is the value of all this cool?

This is where Hott Sheets goes further to explore and exploit the pricing process of contemporary art. Falling in sync with the gallery-as-laboratory trend (see The Whitney Museum’s recent experiment to stay open for 72 hours), Wonder Fair presents an exhibition that aims to determine the value of value-making in the art world.

Selected artists from Kansas City and Lawrence purchased special paper printed with the Wonder Fair insignia from the gallery at a cost of $3 per sheet. With size limitations already in place, the artists then created pieces on or with this paper and returned them to the gallery where they were processed through Wonder Fair’s “value assessment methodology form” to determine their prices. Complete with a systematic color and medium breakdown, this form also tallies the work's trendiness, classifying each by themes such as: "pretty as possible" or "meditation nation" and subject categories like olde-timey, gross out, rainbows, and tiny marks.

The original artworks are displayed with their pricing forms in a single horizontal row, so viewers are left to investigate both. Usually, we are left with a mere wall tag and price, but Hott Sheets attempts to explain some of the mystery behind the dollar-number by presenting a simple, if not always fair, system.

The "Hott Sheet" Value Assessment Methodology Form. Image: courtesy of the gallery

Whether a reflection of the artists included or a testament to its creative theme, the most engaging part of Hott Sheets is resolving the pricing technique with each work. Although the system is simple and democratic, viewers will probably find themselves scrutinizing the logic of the “value assessment” form to see if they agree. Exposing frustrations with over- and under-pricing, as well as compelling us to search for the most or least expensive works, are all part of the exhibition's tongue-in-cheek critique of the contemporary art market.

Subversive tactics like this are inherent to the design of Hott Sheets: the exhibition has been put together as a kind of game in which the gallery staff act as ring-leaders, picking artists, supplying them with materials, setting the rules, and ultimately determining the value of each artist’s efforts. Some artists have followed these rules closely, making safe, small vignette collages from old magazines, for example. Other artists, such as Tim Dwyer, who shredded his paper and displayed it in a plastic bag, formed a retaliatory gesture to the “rules” of the show. Dwyer’s bagged work was then classified under the trend “drugs” as a kind of one-up from the gallery.

This playful banter between artist and institution creates a pseudo-political environment that is both funny and making fun. The joke here is two-fold: aside from the critique of art market economics, Hott Sheets also points a finger at “trendy” two-dimensional work. In fact, works qualifying for too many of the trend or theme categories were actually docked in price. If the goal of the game is to have the most expensive piece, then works that are too “cool” will inevitably lose. Here we see a refreshing example of a gallery’s awareness that it exhibits a certain “type” of work.

Having featured a recent Group Solo Show by notoriously cool Austin-based collective, Okay Mountain, Wonder Fair's curators seem fully aware that their space is a hothouse for contemporary trends.* A majority of their gallery also houses a merchandise shop chocked full of handmade T-shirts, zines, postcards, and other goodies (including a Hott Sheets “home art making and value assessment kit”). With Hott Sheets, Wonder Fair both accepts and exploits the genre it exhibits.

Installation view of "Hott Sheets." Image: courtesy of the gallery

In the exhibition's accompanying text, Wonder Fair admits that the critique is "partially directed toward ourselves and our inability to understand the complexities of the Art Market, and partially directed at the Art Market for being so confounding." Some things we will never fully understand; maybe the global art market is one of them. Hott Sheets deconstructs the façade of expertise so common in the art world and replaces it with a sincere best effort. The exhibition is an honest and oftentimes funny attempt to make sense of this place. In addition to playing with the idea of how monetary value is assigned to works of art, Hott Sheets also presents the prints and drawings in a context where they can be investigated conceptually. This is another refreshing aspect: pieces that may be “cool–looking” but conceptually lacking can at least be seen within the overarching theme of the exhibition. Part lighthearted jest, part insult to artist, and part subversive critique of the art market, Hott Sheets is a cleverly conceived game that blurs the lines of who’s playing whom. Following this bang, hopefully Wonder Fair can maintain this balance of playful critique and underlying agenda in future exhibitions.

Note:

* Read more about the gallery's team, which has recently expanded, in an interview by Jessica Sain-Baird.

-re-

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