Elmgreen & Dragset

"Changing Subjects" 

Flag Art Foundation

October 1—December 17, 2016

 

Elmgreen & Dragset, the most renowned enfants terribles of contemporary art, returns to New York after their successful Public Art Fund project Van Gogh’s Ear, installed at the Rockefeller Center last spring, once again handling identity politics, sexuality, consumerism, and death through their glossy aesthetic. Announced earlier this year as the curators of the upcoming Istanbul Biennial, the Scandinavian duo takes up the Flag Art Foundation’s 9th and 10th floors, putting their earlier works in conversation with a group of new pieces, among which Side Effects will sure make the biggest impact. 

Spanning the entire 10th floor, the sculptural installation includes glass-blown vases full of pastel colored food pigments used for dying pills in the most recent HIV medication. Their mediative and somewhat demure presence complicates notions of art, design, decorative arts, and most importantly, body politics. Go Go Go!, a mixed-media installation featuring a spotless clean platform, a dance pole as well as a bucket full of dirty water and a mop, spectacularly juxtaposes the artists’ enduring practice: a dark yet never fully revealed narrative, complete in its props, appears before the audience, leaving the rest for imagination.