Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong at [email protected]

THE TALENTED MR. PARKOUR

Art history is full of alter egos. Marcel Duchamp’s feminine character, Rrose Selávy, enthralled the 1920s Dadaists, Richard Prince and Colin de Land (allegedly) had their stoner-y persona, John Dogg, and (my personal favorite) the faux-literary persona JT Leroy ensorcelled the vanguard literature scene in the 1990.

So it is my distinct pleasure to add another name to that lineup. If you see writing attributed to a “Mr. Parkour,” there is a high chance that the person who wrote it is the notoriously elusive, Grammy-winning musician Frank Ocean, according to a source close to him. And Mr. Parkour just wrote an essay to accompany Anonymous Gallery‘s current show with Jesse Gouveia, who photographed Ocean for the Financial Times back in 2021.

The text, printed on posters that are available at the Baxter Street space, begins, “My first time in a fort I dragged a sheet from one post on the 2nd level of a bunk bed to the door knob across the room and I think what I most felt was in control of my little bedroom.” It goes on to tell the story of Ocean’s—excuse me, Parkour’s—childhood relationship with building forts, which is the subject of the four large-scale photographs that make up Gouveia’s show.

I also heard that Ocean may have snapped up one of the works for his own collection.

Mr. Parkour’s sign-off for the catalog text at the fittingly named Anonymous Gallery. Photo by Annie Armstrong.

Will publishing this create a mob to the gallery? It’s possible. Fans of Ocean are notoriously ravenous for new material from him, and they are accustomed to waiting for it. Ocean hasn’t released an album since Blonde in 2016, but interest in him has not waned, and teasers of new music that he put out in 2023 made front-page news in music rags.

I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for other Mr. Parkour productions, which I hope will continue in the art world. Until then, grab a poster before they wind up for sale on Grailed.

ANDRA URSUȚA MAKES ‘QUEER’ CAMEO 

Last week I indulged in my tradition of taking a little time off after the busy art fair week. (Does Miami already feel like a distant dream to you, as well?) My sacred ritual around this recuperation period usually involves avoiding everything art-related for a few days, but after years of writing this column for you fine people, I’m finally in too deep for that.

“Dude, dude, I think that’s Andra Ursuța?” I whispered to my friend at the Angelika Theatre in NoHo at a matinee showing of Luca Guadagnino’s new film, Queer. Costumed in a curly red wig, the artist flutters onscreen at the bar where the film mostly takes place as the object of envy for the film’s protagonist (Daniel Craig).

I found out afterward that I was a bit late to the news of Ursuța’s cameo, but I wanted to know more! Is Ursuța abandoning her art practice for a career on the silver screen? Just a few weeks ago, I was admiring a suite of some of her old work at Ramiken’s booth at the Chelsea Art Fair. I gave the artist a ring to get the skinny.

“Oh, I am not pursuing this,” she said, via Facetime from Scotland, where she is setting up a new studio. “I didn’t want to be in the movie, I’m not an actress and I don’t know anything about being in movies. I’m very shy. But I thought it’d be so lame to say no…”

Ursuța’s career has been marked by saying yes to good opportunities. She had a memorable solo show at the Kunsthalle Basel in 2015 with 14 anthropomorphic obelisks, and another at the New Museum in 2016, which transformed a gallery into a landscape of rock-climbing walls inspired by Byzantine architecture. She landed blue-chip representation with David Zwirner (while still maintaining representation with Ramiken) in 2020. 

It was actually at one of Zwirner’s galleries that she met Guadagnino, who collects her work, she said. Though she was mystified by his request for her to act in his new movie, which reimagines the same-named 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, she knew to trust his judgement. “He has a clear vision of what he wants to do,” she said, and could even relate her practice to his directorial vision. Guadagnino uses his actors’ bodies “much like a sculptor,” she said.

However, Ursuta did not enjoy working as an actor. “It was like all of my worst nightmares combined,” she said. “You’re not in control of your time, you’re always surrounded by people, and you’re not actually doing anything.”

Queer premiered in September at the Venice Film Festival, creating a full-circle moment for Ursuța, who was a star of the 2022 Venice Biennale‘s main show, “The Milk of Dreams,” curated by Cecilia Alemani. “It honestly made the art world seem like peanuts,” she laughed, recalling her time on the red carpet. “I kept telling myself, ‘It’s nothing! I’ve done the opening of the Venice Biennale, it’ll be like that.’ It is so not. You’re walking down this carpet and there’s a sea of people with cameras on both sides of you and you can’t hide… If you’re a person who doesn’t wear makeup, the red carpet doesn’t do you any favors.” 

I enjoyed her film appearance, but I’m relieved that she will stay focused on our little art world.

WE HEAR

One of the main images of the alleged UnitedHealthcare assassin, Luigi Mangione, that has been floating around the Internet appears to have him at an event somehow involving the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It apparently comes from his LinkedIn profile. A PMA spokesperson said, “Unfortunately, we do not know the context of the photo, nor are we aware of any connections he may have made with the museum.” … Ever wondered what it might feel like to fall in love with an Al Freeman Jr. soft sculpture in your own likeness? Interview’s editor Mel Ottenberg can now speak to that experience… Internet artist Ryder Ripps and fashion designer Elena Velez were among the creative types at the New York Young Republican Club gala at Cipriani Wall Street on Sunday night… Artist-grant program Anonymous Was A Woman is conducting a survey to understand the experiences of women-identifying artists of all ages, and you can take it here. The findings will be presented in a report in April, which I very much look forward to reading… Artist Jackie Klein’s Painter’s Pool, a popular pool league for painters, has moved from Los Angeles to New York, and its first tournament is set for next Thursday (location disclosed upon confirmation into the league)… Beloved Downtown arthouse theater Metrograph has launched a magazine(!) and is selling prints by photographer Ed Lachman as a part of the roll-out. Get ‘em while they’re hot… Some of Mary Beth Edelson’s curb-discarded ephemera has wound up on a vintage-resale Instagram account, which I imagine is not how she intended the material to be distributed…

 

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