MSCHF
An auditorium enhanced by Johnston Marklee serves as the central gallery space, where art collective MSCHF exhibits their second Perrotin solo presentation, Art 2.
April 6 – June 1, 2024
In 1939, the Del Mar Theatre burst onto California’s cinema scene with Frank Capra’s “You Can’t Take It with You.” Throughout the next eight decades, the space has transformed and changed hands. Most recently, Perrotin Los Angeles took possession of the building, converting it into an art gallery while preserving the theater’s historical marquee.
A standout of this gallery exhibition, the Public Universal Car, now a relic, is accompanied by documentation and ephemera of its almost year-long transatlantic trek. Its static state recalls Ant Farm’s infamous public sculpture, Cadillac Ranch. This work explored alternatives to corporate architecture and featured ten junked Cadillacs half-buried in a Texas field. When the Cruiser is purchased, the proceeds will allow MSCHF to place a Key4All transceiver into a new vehicle, resurrecting the project to don its treads once more.
Internally, MSCHF grappled with the conundrum of popularity subsuming the art project’s intention: mastering craftsmanship through the platonic ideal of exaggerated footwear. In a humorous double entendre, Bootlegs (in a series of six) is the Big Red Boot fitted with partially hairy legs, a reincarnation of an iconic image hijacked by meme culture.
Another instance of the transformative power of virality brings us to a small church in the Spanish village of Borja. A deteriorating painting once known as Ecco Homo resided here for many years when a beloved parishioner took it upon herself to improve the work in 2012. However, she lacked the touch of a skilled restorer, and the suffering countenance of Jesus Christ was subsequently rebaptized by the media as Monkey Christ, Potato Jesus or Beast Jesus
For their third bag venture deconstructing the luxury product, the aptly named Microscopic Handbags are tiny and only viewable by microscope. Co-opting a biomedical industry technique, MSCHF leveraged 3D printing based on a two-photon polymerization for ultraprecise microfabrication in liquid resin. Each of the five works produced for this exhibition salute renowned bag makers: Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Hermes, Jacquemus, and Telfar.
MSCHF proves spectacle comes in all shapes and sizes, centering their exhibition with an exclamation point, Touch Me Sculpture One More Time. Conjuring Michaelangelo and Bernini, the bronze work is a group of friends in a chaotic embrace. The tangled bodies stand on a pentagonal pedestal, edged with an LED readout flashing a set of numbers. MSCHF would like the digits to remain a mystery until the art work is experienced in the gallery.