Precioussentimentalcoyconcealingwithholdingnarcissisticobsessive
Video installation with 7 CRT monitors
The Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014
This video installation was the centerpiece of a two-person exhibition that featured the work of AK Garski and Katherine Vetne at The Diego Rivera Gallery titled “Precioussentimentalcoyconcealingwithholdingnarcissisticobsessive.” The title was derived from a list of words tracked by Garski and Vetne, which were routinely used pejoratively in many of their graduate critique seminars to discredit the work of women artists and artists who identified as feminists.
A group of 7 CRT monitors, placed on top of an array of pedestals ranging in height from 35 to 42 inches, each played a different video on a loop. Each video documented Garski with a wetted paper veil over their face. Scrawled on the center of the veil in cursive handwriting was one of the words from Garski and Vetne’s list: precious, sentimental, coy, concealing, narcissistic, obsessive.
In each video the artist inhales slowly, their breath puncturing the veil. Once punctured, they began a futile attempt to tongue through the paper and consume the veil with their mouth.
As they struggle to scoop bits of paper off of their face with their tongue, chew, and swallow the veil, the artist gags and chokes. The videos are played on a continuous loop, filing the space with the bodily echoes of slurping, chewing, and gaging.