PROJECT:OBJECTIONABLE (3)

By: Lisa Levy
October 10, 2021

One in a series of 25 first-person narratives of offense, outrage, innocent transgression or principled affront, in attire, display, speech or spectacle.

TOILETTE-À-TÊTE

I came home angry from an exclusive/exclusionary self-congratulating art event where to me, the hypocritical self-consciousness of the attendees was palpable. The feeling of reckless abandon I had hoped to find at this event was nowhere to be found. Creativity in the air was specifically controlled and monitored. I will not describe the event further, mostly because there were recognizable names involved (nothing to do with Marina Abramovic though). I went to sleep. In the morning I woke up with a performance art idea that was the perfect expression of my feelings from the night before. I called subversive gallerist Christopher Stout. When I got off the phone, I knew in a few weeks I would be sitting naked on a toilet in the Stout Projects Gallery in Bushwick for my 3-day durational performance, “The Artist is Humbly Present.”

I was referencing Marina Abramovic’s seminal piece “The Artist Is Present” performed in 2010 at MoMA. I love Abramovic’s early work, but her sitting silently, motionless in a robe in the grand atrium of MoMA while people waited in line for hours to sit across from her, was the epitome of “the emperor has no clothes” in the artworld. It bothers me how contemporary art could be adding so much more to people’s lives if the art system was more interested in work that communicated to the public. Contemporary art, for my taste, is too oblique — it seemingly tries to elevate itself by being obtuse to the public in a self-important way.

In “The Artist is Humbly Present,” I would be sitting naked, on a toilet, silent, as gallery visitors would be invited to sit on another toilet opposite me. People would be welcome to interact with me in any way, except for touching.

My husband, artist and photographer Phil Buehler, wasn’t crazy about this endeavor, but nevertheless was all in on making it happen. We purchased two Home Depot toilets. Phil took some great photos of the setup to announce the idea and we were ready to go.

It was an exciting 3 days. So many people showed up — strangers, friends. Humans of all sizes, styles, and ages — even a peacock! It was like being a fly on the wall. Completely exposed, but in a way invisible at the same time, silently observing people responding to me. A lot of people, sitting in silence, connected with me. Many saw it as a forum to express themselves as well. I remember a beautiful black woman sharing her experience with her young child. There were a few people who relished the opportunity to take their clothes off in public. A group formed watching the others sit with me. One of them started drawing portraits of me and my sitters. It was an invaluable experience to me in so many ways.

There was international press, and I was able to get my message out loud and clear. The Daily News headlined, “Artist Lisa Levy mocks pretentiousness by sitting naked on a toilet at a Brooklyn gallery”. Franceinfo concurred (you get the idea), “Lisa Levy se dit exaspérée par la ‘connerie’ du monde de l’art, grangréné selon elle ‘par l’ego et la prétention”. Cracked recently included me in their list of “15 Extreme Pieces of Performance Art”.

Ironically enough I found out later that the number one question Abramovic got about her performance was: “How did you pee?”

MOVIE OBJECTS: INTRODUCTION | Ramona Lyons on EYE OF THE SERPENT (CONAN THE BARBARIAN) | Faythe Levine on BEDKNOB (BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS) | Gerald Peary on CUP OF COFFEE (THE BIG HEAT) | Christopher Orr on TOM’S HAT (MILLER’S CROSSING) | Lynn Peril on TRANSISTOR RADIO (DR. STRANGELOVE) | & 20 MORE.

PROJECT:OBJECTIONABLE (3)

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