Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong—who’s spending her summer in Los Angeles—at [email protected].

BASEBALL CAP FEVER IN THE ART WORLD

I think that we in the art world should be proud of how much everyday civilians love to co-opt our merch. It means that the art life is still a glamorous thing to aspire to, that we still have some cultural currency. Every time I see a “Milk of Dreams” Venice Biennale tote in a Bushwick coffee shop on the shoulder of someone who was an undergrad when it happened, I feel affirmed in our cool factor.

I mention tote bags because they remain the bread-and-butter of art world merch, probably reaching peak popularity around 2018, when the time that New Yorker cartoonist Will McPhail made this comic. Right now, though, the art world baseball cap is dominant.

Last week, David Zwirner announced a hat collaboration with Mel Bochner, with proceeds going to Democratic campaigns across the United States. The Cultured magazine team also recently launched some hats that they describe as “dad hats,” with simple phrases (“ART”, “CHAMBERLAIN”) or artists’ names on them. And Rashid Johnson designed a bucket hat with the New York Mets earlier this year.

Frankly, I think it’s time to move on to a new merch item—I vote for either mugs or sports socks—but before the art-hat era ends, I want to pay homage to the seminal hats that got us here. Here are the top six status hats that I see in circulation at art events, along with what they signify about their wearers.

1. Karma’s “Books” hat by publishing house Pacific

You have been in the industry for a while, and you know your stuff. Your taste in art tends be more academic—and maybe a little safe—but you’re not above rolling with the emerging-gallery folks (so long as they’ve worked with a couple of collectors you admire). You’re a regular at talks and readings, and you knew that Dolly Parton had a crush on Dave Hickey before she blurbed the recent reissue of his Invisible Dragon. 

2. Ballroom Marfa’s trucker cap 

Oh, aren’t you just a blast? You show up for the gallery dinner after skipping the opening, but that’s OK. It’s not your fault—the Jitney was running late—and you were invited because you have great stories to tell. You have at least 300 photos tagged on your BFA profile, though no one is clear on what your job actually entails. Somehow, Ruinart doesn’t give you a hangover. 

3. Ed Ruscha “BOSS” hat 

You grin self-effacingly when you see memes about hard-launching your relationship with a trip to Dia: Beacon. You did that back in 2015, and it was an unforgettable day! You have a membership to the Whitney, but you usually skip the wall text in museums because you argue that it takes away from your viewing experience. You have replaced your cedar shower mat from the MoMA Design Store three times now. 

4. Jerry Gogosian’s “Nothing Is Available” hat 

Oh my god, how did you get a tailor to make that blazer fit so well? It looks like you were born in it. You spent some serious dough on your degree from the Sotheby’s Institute, so you don’t even make eye contact if there isn’t a transaction to be made. Good art doesn’t exist below 14th Street, and you were once moved to tears by a Chagall at the Beyeler. Or maybe you were just exhausted.

5. Gaylord Apartments/Shrits 

I’m combining these two because—speaking from on-the-ground experience—they are the New York/Los Angeles equivalents of one another. You are equally as likely to be a young collector as an art handler. Regardless, you have spent a small fortune on your collection of art books, which you frequently brag about on your Instagram. Good art doesn’t exist above 14th Street. You’re a regular at both The River and Stir Crazy. One time Gavin Brown complimented your outfit, you like to remind people. 

6. Wet Paint hat 

Wet Paint hats courtesy of artist Kiko Kostadinov’s brand Otto 958.

The best people in the art world. Keep them close.

Some honorable mentions, for posterity:

• The satanic MoMA hat designed by artist Josh Reames
• Nota Bene‘s “Three Kings” bootleg merch
• The Baer Faxt‘s bucket hat from its golf invitational in Miami
• The myriad of art hats made by Raffi and Al’s
• The classic “The Met(s)” hat 
• Somewhat similarly, Seth Fountain‘s “The Meth Gala” hat

BRIAN BELOTT IS GIVING YOU A CALL

This is such a romantic time of year, isn’t it? Most galleries are either closed or in the process of closing their final summer show, and I can practically hear all of the Armory Show preview emails being drafted and scheduled to go out next week. (I am here waiting for them, tail wagging.)

This puts us in a rare dead zone for art being on view—but not completely. The elusive and beloved New York artist Brian Belott has thrown us all a bone in the form of a performance-art hotline, which is still open for all of your performance art hankerings and cravings. 

There has been little-to-no announcement of this project, and the only way I am able to report this to you is because I am a diligent viewer of Jamian Juliano-Villani’s Instagram stories. Juliano-Villani (whose business partner at O’Flaherty’s, artist Billy Grant, is a frequent collaborator of Belott), posted the following. 

I gave the number a ring, and was met with a pre-recorded performance by the artist. Against some vaguely psychedelic muzak, he intones disjointed phrases like, “We’re almost past the crevasse,” “the point is glycerin. Some of the most glistening glycerin,” “manhole cover personhole cover,” “take the mission. Brian Belott. Oh yes. Crazy salami… now perfecting its reach around the globe.” Finally, the call ends with some gurgled mouth noises and a sudden, “GOODBYE!”.

The last time we saw new work from Belott was two years ago, at his solo show at Canada, where he presented several of the collage works that he is perhaps best known for. (He often stores them in a refrigerator.) This piece feels reminiscent of John Giorno‘s “Dial-A-Poem” project, but with a Dadaist bent that is distinctly Belott, and it reminds me a little bit of his iconic performance at the SFiFF Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony.

“I heard that Brian set his hair on fire during a performance, it was one of the first acts that caught my attention and drew me to his practice,” Mills Morán, Belott’s Los Angeles gallerist, told me. He recreated the piece in 2016 at the Serpentine in London. Morán Morán has been representing the artist since 2015, and most recently presented a solo show of his work in 2019, a year after Belott’s final show with the now-shuttered Gavin Brown’s Enterprise.

Morán told me, “From stream of consciousness, nonsense vocals, fake fashion lines (George de George Hair cuts Hair), I’ve seen it all and I can guarantee you any project Brian approaches will be worth making time for.”

Give him a call, and let me know what you hear.

WE HEAR 

Enough to make any New Yorker jealous. Mazel tov! Image courtesy a tipster.

Fran Lebowitz was the witness for the marriage of Francesco Clemente’s son, Andrea, and Michelle Molokotos, a director of Nahmad Gallery… I’m guessing more than a few of you can relate to this comic by Guy Richards-Smit… Otium, the restaurant connected to the Broad in downtown L.A., will shut its doors permanently next month… Let’s take a moment to appreciate that Laurie Simmons and Lena Dunham gifted a very cute-looking cat to Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith… In my next life, I’d like to have the job that Maeve Turner just landed: head of gardens and horticulture at the Frick Collection… Bayard Street hotspot The River is going to start offering catering services for gallery openings (you will find me with a white Negroni and a gourmet hot dog in hand at every single one of them)… Heads-up, watch lovers: a couple of svelte-looking pieces designed by Patek Phillippe from the collection of Greene Naftali cofounder Gloria Naftali are being auctioned off with relatively low estimates at Doyle Auctions… And finally, ‘Brat’ summer concludes… 

 

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