Exhibit Proves it is Better to Regift Than to Receive

Ever cried on your birthday because you didn’t get a pony? Or force smiled as you thanked your clueless uncle for a pair of socks? Well imagine getting a gift basket containing pickled pigs’ lips and hemorrhoid cream. Regift, a group show at the Swiss Institute curated by Barnard professor John Miller, explores the ambiguity of gift-giving, especially in terms of its social and political implications.

“Whereas a gift can be seen as something noble, a regift is crass. It’s also a transgression of the whole idea of giving a gift,” Miller said. He was invited to curate the show by Piper Marshall, an assistant curator at the Swiss Institute and a Barnard alumna.

The Swiss Institute occupies an appealing SoHo loft-space, and Regift contains the works of 25 artists working in various media.

Artists are sometimes described as possessing a “gift,” a term that may trivialize their work. “Both the artwork and the gift are pre-capitalist social practices. They both fit awkwardly within capitalist structure,” Miller said.

Two original artworks inspired the concept of Regift. The first, Loser Gift Basket, is a photograph by John Waters, an artist primarily known as the director of Hairspray and Pink Flamingos. As the title implies, the work depicts a gift basket containing a variety of disgusting and insulting products, including pickled pigs’ lips.

The second, Science Classicism Lycanthropy, is a still-life depicting the contents of an online gift basket, painted by Greg Parma Smith, MFA ’07. The work hinges on the contrast between the thoughtless purchase of a gift basket and Smith’s painstaking style. This tension mimics the hypocrisy of the gift basket and our hypocritical demand for cheap and convenient gifts that appear thoughtful and expensive.

However, as is often the case in contemporary galleries, some of the pieces are nearly impossible to understand. For example, Celestial Muse by Trisha Donnelly, consists of an oversized plush flip-flop box. To a viewer unfamiliar with Donnelly’s intention, the work may elicit nothing but confusion. A blurb might have helped clarify, but most of the works are displayed without captions.

Personal narratives—such as a girlfriend’s tattoo or a birthday ritual—shape the most successful pieces in the show. Upon the Death of My Grandfather by Leigh Ledare involves an attempted gift to MoMA of the rights to a grave plot outside Melba, Idaho. The work consists of two framed documents and a frame left empty by MoMA’s silence. In a field often accused of affectation, the work’s ambiguous and humorous attitude towards conceptual art is very refreshing.

The Swiss Institute is located at 495 Broadway (at Broome Street). Regift runs through April 4.