Purple Art

[September 15 2020]

Alex Bag and Jason Yates’ “I’m Sorry You All Ended up Here” exhibition at von ammon co, Washington DC

The exhibition features a collaborative video by both artists, as well as a new solo video by Alex Bag, a collection of items left over from the production of the videos, as well as many sculptures and drawings by each of the artists.⁠

“Oscillating between the roles of the surrogate and the host, the doll is, at its core, a social tool that facilitates both self-identification and the construction of the other. Perhaps the unifying characteristic that defines the doll qua doll relates directly back to the pediophobe’s anxiety, that strange flux between recognition and alienation that instigates memory and dread in equal measure. It is inaccurate to identify the doll as neutral, and the Bratz Dolls and Reborns and Real Dolls of this world function primarily as vessels into which culture pours itself. It seems fitting to me that there exists at this moment a gallery full to overflow with reclaimed trinkets negated of their sentimentality and a battalion of misshapen figures too self-absorbed to recognize their own impotence. Liberated from the prison of nostalgia, the residents of I’m Sorry You All Ended Up Here remind us that abjection often veils itself beneath quotidian signifiers, that the clown doll only hisses if you expect it to.” —Alissa Bennett

Currently on view until September 27th at von ammon co. in Washington, DC.