Jeremy Kost, Golden Textures, from “The Ladies That Lunch”, 2010, courtesy of the artist.
Thursday, March 4, Jeremy Kost’s “The Ladies That Lunch” opens at the National Arts Club in New York. Curated by Stacy Engman, the opening on Thursday evening will feature a special performance by Ladyfag. Kost’s Polaroid collages will be on view, the likes of which we’ve seen before at his Dactyl Foundation Show last year. It’s been a busy couple months for the artist, who currently has a show up at Connor Contemporary in D.C. We spoke with Kost about “The Ladies That Lunch” and Armory week.
WW: You currently have a show up in D.C. at Connor Contemporary entitled “Anyone Other Than Me.” Tell me about the show.
JK: The show in DC is about the nightlife work and nothing is edited. Each grid of Polaroids you see is 2 hours of shooting. Nothing is removed. What is fascinating for me is the venerations and characters that these individuals take on. People who come to parties dress up one time only and I catch that.
WW: For the D.C. opening you had a performance take place, hosted by Mera and Jennifer Rubell at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. How did the relationship with the Rubell’s come about?
JK: The gallery, Connor Contemporary, has a relationship with Capitol Skyline Hotel, so they suggested we throw a party there for the opening. The hotel is located near where all the strip clubs used to be in D.C. and the hotel used to be a dive where the drag queens got ready to go to the clubs.
I had two great characters from Pittsburg come to the show for the performance. We had three surveillance cameras in their room feeding live video from the room into the event of these characters getting ready, putting on drag. black and white and sort of telling the idea of a performance. It was in black and white so at firsts the guests didn’t know it was live but by the end of it they figured it out.
Installation view of "Anyone Other Than Me" on view at Connor Contemporary through March 6, 2010.
WW: This week you have a show at the National Arts Club called “The Ladies That Lunch” which opens Thursday, March 4. What will be on view?
JK: Collages that I’ve been making, that have taken on a much larger form. I’m taking the nightlife characters out of their environment and creating a different environment – The National Arts Club. The National Arts Club is so rich in history and I brought my characters into the space, shooting five over three days, all of them referencing “ladies that lunch.:
WW: Who are your characters?
JK: Two of them are actual ladies, the first I’ve ever shot. A lot of what I do is very collaborative. I take an idea of what the character should be doing and I give it to them. I thought about who would be a lady at lunch.
WW: What are you doing the rest of the week – will you be visiting the many fairs? A lot of artists find art fairs a bit vulgar, do you?
JK: I like art fairs. It’s a great way to be exposed to curators and collectors that may not know your work. The best part is that the work is being seen by people who may not know of it and who might possibly establish a relationship with the artist.
