Bathroom breaks are all part of the show at Frieze London this year, thanks in no small part to iconic fashion illustrator/designer/performer/artist Julie Verhoeven. She's applied her colorful, fleshy style to an installation and performance in one of the fair complex's lavatories: The Toilet Attendant… Now Wash Your Hands is part of Frieze Projects, curated this year by Raphael Gygax.A photo posted by Ellis Pendens (@ellispendens) on
Oct 6, 2016 at 11:32am PDT
Verhoeven and a troupe of other performers are clothed in her trademark chaotic couture, acting as oompa loompa-like bathroom attendants whom visitors must pass to enter the toilet area. Bathroom-themed assemblages covered in toilet paper and featuring video art on tiny portable screens are scattered throughout the hall. Propagandistic illustrations of cleaning products decorate the walls, each stall's markings are bedazzled, and custom-made embroidered turds pepper the space. The toilets are clothed in retirement home-chic fabrics, and there are even artworks emblazoned inside their porcelain bowls. The artist herself can be found talking to visitors and, as one Instagrammer documented, intently peeling tampons from their wrappers.With the discussion of trans bathroom access launching the loo into American politics, Verhoeven's destruction of all normalcy in the art fair's water closet is a surprisingly engaging political statement—a trend that also includes Maurizio Cattelan's solid gold toilet at the Guggenheim. We can only hope more art institutions figure out new ways to contemplate the commode as the discussion continues.A video posted by Mathilde Agius (@mathildeagius) on
Oct 5, 2016 at 12:10pm PDT
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Oct 5, 2016 at 7:53am PDT
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Oct 6, 2016 at 8:22am PDT
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Oct 6, 2016 at 8:18am PDT
#JulieVerhoeven in performance in the ladies' loos @friezeartfair
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Oct 6, 2016 at 6:58am PDT
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Oct 6, 2016 at 4:37am PDT
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Oct 6, 2016 at 5:47am PDT
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Oct 7, 2016 at 3:07am PDT
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Oct 6, 2016 at 4:43am PDT
F. A.B Wipe from front to back @julieverhoeven
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Oct 5, 2016 at 1:27pm PDT
Follow Julie Verhoeven here, and find your next favorite artist on The Creators Project's Instagram.Related:It's Your Turn to Use the Guggenheim's 18K Gold ToiletHere's the Scoop on Japan's New Toilet MuseumYour Bathroom Deserves Craig & Karl Designer Toilet PaperA video posted by Raphael Gygax (@raphael_gygax) on
Oct 5, 2016 at 2:08am PDT