DARREN BADER
WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES an artist an artist’s artist? For my money, it’s a purity of intent, manifesting as a relentless interrogation of precepts concerning both art and its valuation that places the act of creation—with all that term’s spiritual connotations—above the commercial imperatives of the art system. Common among those individuals worthy of the exalted appellation is a temptation to vacate, in view of unacceptable compromise, the industry’s fraught financial space. Cady Noland, the grand mistress of darkly charged, readymade ambiguity and the queen of cantankerous refusal, has, ironically, built a successful career on just such a modus operandi, which is to say, she operates on her own terms. Darren Bader, having recently reached the mid-career milestone of two decades of artistic output, last year attempted to join the ranks of the self-disenfranchised, offering his “practice”—a farcically professionalizing descriptor he is clearly eager to satirize—for sale. Had anyone suitable (prospective buyers must qualify in accordance with criteria determined by the artist) taken the “low seven-figure” bait, they would have owned rights to, as detailed in a legally binding document doubling as a certificate of authenticity (COA), the artist’s name along with the ability to produce and sell artwork attributed to him. Under the agreement, Bader himself would not be allowed to produce art, but he could take on other “practiced” occupations—e.g., dentist, doctor, psychiatrist, hypnotist. An artwork in and of itself, the proposed sale was touted on the online art and theory platform Triple Canopy, trumpeted by art writer Brian Boucher in the New York Times, and accompanied by a website of the artist’s making that included, among other offerings, a journal wherein Bader assayed various quandaries, either germane or tangential, and a testimonials page carrying goofily breathless, press release–like encomiums that threw a blanket of doubt and suspicion over any linguistic effort to account for the artist’s sincerely professed questing for the ineffable.
But what sets Bader apart from his fellow contextual malcontents, and perhaps what makes his art so likeable and thereby effective, is a consistent throughline of bizarro humor. There is in nearly all instances a generous dollop of intelligent ridiculousness baked into the selection and arrangement of his found objects. Take, for example, a by-now famous work, Lasagna on Heroin, exhibited at London’s Sadie Coles gallery in 2012. Unsurprisingly, the work consisted of a serving of lasagna injected with the titular narcotic. There is something innately amusing about meaty, cheesy pasta as a sculptural material, but in combination with the mythically ruinous painkiller, comedy and tragedy conspired to forge an unforgettable image-concept. Similarly, French Horn With/and Guacamole (or Other ‘Sauce’), 2012, is “activated” by placing a substantial quantity of guacamole in the sound hole of a French horn (other recommended dips, the artist has stated, are chunky Italian-style tomato sauce and taramosalata). Again, this is a laugh-out-loud pairing, so nuttily charming in a neo-Magrittean manner that it endures as an object of fascination in our image-addled minds. Both these works found homes—their future existence contingent upon owner activations outlined in associated COAs that extend and complicate the madcap dimensions of the work, while also poking fun at Conceptualist orthodoxies. Indeed, text is integral to Bader’s oeuvre, whether elucidating, in the artist’s own unique fashion, the proper constitution of his objects and assemblages, or simply existing as stand-alone artworks unto themselves. Robert Barry and Lawrence Weiner loom large in terms of precedents, but so too does Dadaist nonsensicality and Pop-appropriationist collage. What’s more, Bader carries these somewhat contiguous histories forward into the digital realm. The gallery may remain the central nexus for his artistic labor, but his work also takes the form of websites, social media accounts, and discoverable augmented reality projects, each platform inflecting the others.
In conversation, Bader is equally, and compellingly, comical and critical. He’s always on, scanning real and virtual horizons for transfixing moments of seemingly impossible poetry. Through the eccentric orchestration of generative visual and verbal semantic tensions, he skewers or redeems, sometimes simultaneously, his eclectic material, wresting from it a destabilizing and sublime absurdity. What follows is a sampling of works, old and new, chosen from unillustrated COAs appearing in an as-yet unpublished book titled anymore (accessible via the QR code below), originally conceived as an accompaniment to the sale of the artist’s identity; Bader supplied documentation of the pieces referred to. To be encountered here, then, is the characteristically beguiling interaction of images, objects, and ideas that epitomizes and defines the artist’s—for want of a much better word—practice.
—Jeff Gibson
pavement piece: bananas and clam chowder
dimensions variable
unique
The work consists of one or more sidewalk panels* made by mixing concrete with bananas and clam chowder.** It’s recommended the bananas and clam chowder be entirely concealed/submerged once the concrete has set. The work can be made anywhere anytime.
*If sidewalk panels aren’t convenient, any publicly trafficked expanse of concrete can be used: courtyards, terraces, plazas, streets, etc.
**Discarded bananas are recommended. New England clam chowder is highly recommended.
CS15
[media below*]
dimensions variable
unique
The work is the eight elements listed below* (and seen here). They should remain together as often as possible (though perhaps not all the time). The work can be placed(/taken) anywhere.
*Greg Lake’s treadmill; Amy Winehouse’s felt roll; Phyllis Diller’s sheet music; Les Paul’s clocks; Jack Palance’s kalimba; Bill Wyman’s Paul Simons; Paul Stanley’s mug; Peter Criss’s credit card; Burl Ives’s pickle fork.
Sculpture #3.85
mixed media*
dimensions variable
unique
The work is composed of the following elements (as seen here): bronze Mercury, bronze upside-down woman, bronze seated woman with/as table, powder-coated bronze upside down horse head, bronze brain, ceramic seal with plastic welding mask.* None of the six elements need to be proximate to the others. It’s recommended the horse head remain upside down and on the ground/floor. It’s recommended the seated woman with/as table** remain(s) seated on the ground/floor. It’s recommended the seal remain “seated” on the ground/floor with the welding mask covering its face. The brain can be placed/carried/held as the owner chooses. Mercury can be placed/carried/held as the owner chooses. It’s recommended the upside-down woman remain upside down when placed/carried/held.
*In addition to the media listed above, there’s a variety*** of additional media within the bronze components, as well as metals/alloys originally used to seal off the media within.
**Should the owner be interested, the glass table top that the seated lady bears/holds could be removed with relative frequency.
***Some of this variety is perishable in nature. Should it manage to breach/permeate its metal “container,” the owner can certainly consider welding shut any fissures/holes/etc. The owner should never consider emptying the contents contained within the bronzes.
Sculpture #3.5
27 1/8 x 141 x 3 7/8 in / 69 x 358 x 10 cm*
unique
The work is 1) a form based on an existing form** 2) filled with unwanted, human-produced stuff 3) as many of these forms, at the *size above, as the owner finds suitable, each filled with unwanted, human-produced stuff 4) any presentation of these various identical forms. Surface treatment of each identical-esque form is up to the work’s owner.
**An art historical form.***
***Perhaps of no import.
Mundial #4
neon work*
44 x 20 1/8 in / 112 x 51 cm**
edition 1 of 2 + 1 AP
The work can be used as the owner chooses.
*A common contemporary art genre existing at the time of this COA’s printing.
**The height and width of the letters (as seen here). Hanging height is the owner’s choice.
Ruscha starter kit
dimensions variable
edition 2 of 2
The work begins with the 10 watercolors the owner purchased.* Based on these, the owner should consider making additional Ed Ruscha**’s, choosing backgrounds they’d consider suitable for words they’d like to illustrate. There’s no recommended medium, size, or period of execution for additional Ruscha’s.
*Hopefully visible enough in these photos.
**If it’s not already apparent to the owner, the 10 watercolors imitate one of the major styles of the well-known artist Ed(ward) Ruscha.
energy study
dimensions vary
edition 2 of 2
The work has its owner fuel a motor vehicle with frozen/thawing* rodents originally packaged for reptilian/avian consumption. It’s recommended the rodents be inserted directly into the vehicle’s fueling port. Once rodents have been inserted, the vehicle should be turned on and used for routine transit.
*Fully thawed isn’t recommended.
