Every Joke is a Tiny Revolution
99 Cent Store recap, e/Crit at Phase Gallery, and a new ‘Life, Laugh, Lube’ explainer video
“A thing is funny when—in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening—it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution.”
— George Orwell
RECENT & UPCOMING NEWS
Upcoming Group Exhibition: e / Crit - s, curated by Tom Leeser, Phase Gallery, LA, opening Saturday Mar 21st, 6-9PM
Upcoming Solo Project: “Every Joke is a Tiny Revolution: A New Live Laugh Lube Chapter,” Brooklyn, NY, June 13
Recent Press: Evan Nicole Brown, "The Semiotics of Divination," CARLA, Spring 2026
Recent Group Exhibition: 99 Cents Store, curated by Barry McGee, The Hole pop-up, LA, Feb 22-Mar 1
99CENTS
I have never received so much attention for participating in a group exhibition—or, honestly, a solo exhibition—as I did for my inclusion in Barry McGee’s 99 Cent Store. That I was invited to join the show three days before its opening, and that the show included over 200 artists with over 4000 works, makes this even more remarkable. The number of people who texted or emailed me “congratulations” for being in this week-long pop-up was not a testament to me, however, but to the show itself.
99 Cents Store was nothing short of legendary.
The exhibition, curated by SF-based artist Barry McGee and produced by The Hole, took place in an abandoned 99 Cents store near LACMA. The store was absent of product, but everything else remained: the check out registers, the cheap metal dividers and white pegboard, the sliding glass doors. The line to enter the 99 Cents Store on opening night was four blocks long (and I’m talking long LA-blocks, not short NY-blocks). Inside, art hung everywhere. And I mean everywhere. On every imaginable surface. Hanging from the wall with wires or inside walk-in freezers (temps were normal). Unannounced performers played the sitar or silk screened T-shirts or performed out of a Gatorade-branded refrigerator which housed their amp.
The 99 Cents Store received a mind boggling amount of press, from places such as NBC and Vogue, to name a few. It also earned no small amount of love from social media. Art world talking head Jeff Magid posted a video about how the show represented the future of art. Or at least a more accessible version of it that the high end art world had shunned for far too long. And while I disagreed with some of Magid’s arguments (in my experience, gallery staff and art fairs, not merely gallery rent, constitute a gallery’s largest expenses), I agreed that this show might have—ever so slightly—shifted the needle.
Unfortunately, the Legend of the 99 Cents Store is not an immaculate one. Shortly after the exhibition closed, Artnet published an article by Kenny Schachter citing complaints against The Hole’s owner Kathy Grayson for non-payment of sold works. It saddened me, despite being well aware of these complaints before Schachter’s article, for such an energetic and inspiring show to be undermined by chickens coming home to roost. Especially because the Herculean communication and coordination efforts by The Hole’s director, Charlotte Grussing, (remember: 200+ artists, 4000+ works!) had been bar none. I figured I wouldn’t see payment for my two sold works. That the 99 Cents Store would be, at best, a mixed-bag experience. But then, not two weeks later, I did! And now I remain confusedly grateful, because as glad as I am to receive payment, it doesn’t feel good to know that some artists are and might forever be waiting…
e / Crit - s
Hu Di, David Jang, Michele Lorusso, Mieke Marple, (A)Provisional-Collective, Xi Qin, and Yixuan Tan
Curator: Tom Leeser
Assistant Curator: Dongpu Ling
Please join me for this opening on Saturday, March 21, 6-9PM, where I’ll be exhibiting my “DN’T ASK WHY” AR Painting
New “Live Laugh Lube” Explainer Video
This is just a teaser so don’t get too excited. I’ll be posting the full video on Instagram Tuesday morning. It’s been a year and a half since I started “Live Laugh Lube.” The project itself has not changed much in nature during that time. Still, I’ve gained significant clarity about the work’s purpose, and hence felt a new explainer video was needed. This video was made with my friend, filmmaker Félixe de Becker.
Enjoy!
Absolutely happy the pop up experience was a good one. I love the idea.