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Other: Conceptual: Jesus at Art Basel


 

Each December in Miami Beach, Florida, thousands upon thousands of art dealers, collectors and artists make a pilgrimage to the giant tents and convention centers that comprise the circus of Art Basel Miami Beach.  For this Mecca of the Art World, I cast three ceramic ready-made figurines of Jesus Christ dying on the cross from a commercial plaster mold. Written on the cross in red underglaze is the phrase, "The only way I get into Art Basel is in a jar of piss."  They are signed with the pseudonym E. Liehue.

These were placed in three different high-profile, high-traffic locations around Miami: (1) a men's bathroom stall inside the main Art Basel show at the Miami Beach Convention Center during the VIP Preview night on 12/3/08, (2) a men's bathroom stall at the "Art Positions" shipping containers set up near the beachfront at Collins Park between 21st and 22nd Streets on 12/4/08, and (3) a men's bathroom stall at the Wolfsonian during a VIP cocktail party on 12/5/08.  Suffice it to say that this enabled exposure for my work that would currently be nearly impossible with a lack of gallery representation.

Inside the base of each one I placed a note that says "Congrats! Free art. Keep this art. Google: E. Liehue" so that the curious souls who dared investigate these works might stumble upon this page.  I also took out a Google Adwords ad for "E. Liehue."

Following the photos I have written a statement that further discusses the intent of this project.

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     © copyright 2007 Joshua James Freeman