Everyday Is Like Sunday...

DECADES: Show within a Show

DECADES— opened Saturday, November 22nd in Los Angeles at Webber Gallery. It’ll be up till end of year. The install was intense. I didn’t have a chance to send this out before the show opened.

I think I’m more proud of this gif I made than the exhibition.

Decades features Ari Marcopoulos, Chris Rhodes, Daniel Arnold, David Black, Jerry Hsu, Jim Mangan, Katrien de Blauwer, Laurel Thoma, Mark Steinmetz, Nick Waplington, Rachel Simon, Robert Nethery & Vinca Petersen.

I’m trying to reimagine the group show. This one’s loosely inspired by Gerhard Richter’s ATLAS. Richter started assembling pictures, newspaper clippings, sketches etc.. in the 60s. Culminated in a book.

Richter started assembling pictures, newspaper clippings, sketches etc.. in the 60s.

There are no rules. Make a new version of an existing book. Change a show if it travels. Add or subtract artists and work.

Reminds me of how Jim Goldberg bootlegged his own book Raised by Wolves. The original sold out. Costs a fortune now. So he xeroxed it.

I want to do what I want. Or not at all. Decades expands on the idea of visual accumulation, repetition. Juxtaposes to create a unified front. The show has several grids. Like this reimagined install of Vinca Petersen’s book No System. From the Tate Modern in 2019. It’s ten years of her pictures from the 90s. Petersen traveled around Europe. Following free raves. Photographing it.

She didn’t have the original indesign file. So Vinca sent me a los res pdf. And all the tiffs. I redesigned the entire book out. Reprinted it in spreads. And put it on the wall. It’s about 25 feet long.

Ari gave me a stack of Xerox prints from his studio. We had some loose idea of how to hang them. Spoke on the phone several times about it.

Darkroom prints, work prints, machine prints, Xerox prints. Evoking the tactile immediacy of the studio and a window into an artist’s work flow. It’s revealing seeing someone’s process. Like drawings on paper in a painter’s show.

Mark Steinmetz and Irina Rozovsky (whose work I’ve been showing all year) are living in Paris. So Mark asked his asst to put together a box of unseen dark room prints of his. Mailed them to me in New York. We sold 6 out of 20 opening night.

If you’re interested in one they’re unique 1/1 and unpublished, unseen, hand printed silver gelatin in the dark room by Mark. From 20+ years ago. Vintage in a sense. You can reach out to me. Just reply to this email.

Some install shots of the rest of the show:

All the grids reminded me of this Daido Moriyama contact sheet I saw on Artsy. I like the repetition. Multiples.

But back to Sssunday. As mentioned, a day I appreciate. I can’t believe I never watched the music video for Morrissey’s Everyday is Like Sunday. It has 15M views on YouTube. Is that good? Sounds like a lot.

Very British. Which made me think about Tom Wood’s UK pictures. Captured this period of time well.

Looking at pictures from another time— makes me aware of how fleeting it all is.

How quickly things can change. How we looked. Dressed. How we spent days and weekends. We’re obviously more distracted now. Versus the ‘80s and ‘90s. Less time for the long think.

Reminded me of a movie that must’ve been visually inspired by Tom and my friend Nick Waplington’s Living Room pictures.

All or Nothing by Mike Leigh (2002).

All of the above made me think of another photographer who made similar pictures around the same time. On the other side of the world.

Rodeo Drive by Anthony Hernandez, (1984). I’ve given this book as a gift to a few friends.

Life in another decade reminded me of the Peter Hujar movie. I saw it before my opening with Vince Aletti at Library180.

In the film Hujar’s friend records him. As he recounts the previous day. Who he spoke to on the phone. Pictures that were taken. How Vince went to Hujar’s apartment to shower. Because he didn’t have hot water.

Thought about my own previous day. Phone calls with artists in New York & London. To discuss their parts in Decades. Went to Daniel Arnold’s book signing at McNally Jackson. Sold out in minutes.

Another call with artists in Vietnam. Los Angeles. In the uber on my way to my old friend Alexa Chung’s Vogue dinner at Lucien.

That’s a dream of a day. One I never could have imagined a few years ago. Cuz life is very up and down. And for a few years I was down. But I credit New York. Its resiliency has had an everlasting effect on me. It’s where I plan on being for the foreseeable future. No matter who the mayor is. Or president for that matter.

I hear people threatening to leave pre and post elections. Pre, during, post Covid. Go ahead. Leave.

NY’ll be fine. It survived after 9/11. Two black outs. The second lasting 5 days. 2008 financial crisis. Trump. Deblasio. Twice. Terrible mayor. Adams. Also terrible mayor. And weird as hell. You won’t be missed. Not even by your friends. You’ll miss New York though.

I’m a New Yorker that loves LA. Was in town for 8 days. I felt ready to go. Saw most of my friends. Opened the show. Had a few good meals. Antico Nuovo, All Time, The Benjamin Bar for a few drinks. It rained half the trip but I caught some nice days when I wasn’t inside installing. Reminded me of a song I love. It Never Rains in Souther California. Albert Hammond. Heard it at the end of the new HBO show, I Love LA.

It’s a bit niche. But cool that they picked it for the show. Someone is still paying attention.

I wonder about music and movies that are 20+ years old. Predate social media. Will they be lost in the shuffle. Which reminded me of another great LA song. Randy Newman.

Both made me think of a doc I really like. City of Gold. About LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold.

Like to eat? And root for the little guy? Watch someone doing what they love? That’s what this is about. Which brought me back to what I’ve been trying to do. Make seeing art, specifically photography, in person a more engaging thing.

To be able to show a large amount of work. In an affordable way. Framing, printing, shipping, etc make the barrier to entry high.. If I can lower it I can show more of it. Which was the premise of my Xerox shows, HARD COPY.

Takashi Homma, Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji

Earlier this year David Campany reached out. Asked me if I would bring it to ICP. I said yes. Of course. And together back in July we started curating the next iteration of Hard Copy.

It’ll open January 29th 2026. Save the date. It’ll be up till end of May.

My first museum show. In my hometown of New York. I’m really proud of this. Been at it almost 15 years. I truly enjoy making these exhibitions. It’s a really nice feeling to be here.

I hope it leads to more. And hope to see you at the opening.