Spraying in Public: Recent Press
+ Ahren Warner's "I will pay to make it bigger" named a must-see photobook by Artnet
Our current exhibition Spray (and its artist, Ella Fleck) has received some press. Also, the omnipresent end-of-year lists took notice of Ahren Warner’s I will pay to make it bigger, with Artnet naming it a “must-see photo book of 2024”.
I’ve listed some of the best below with links.
i-D Magazine: Smells Like Sex Inside This London Art Show
“When I open the door to Season 4 Episode 6, an art gallery next to an estate in Euston, I am hit full in the face by a cloud of sweet, slightly dust-scented white fog. I gag slightly as I step through the doorway, a cloud of mist forming behind me on the street. “Hi?” I call out meekly into the cloud, which is being sprayed out of a network of metal pipes tethered to the ceiling. “Hi!” someone shouts back, and suddenly I can make out two shadowy figures standing about five feet before me. One of these figures is Ella Fleck, the artist who concocted this cloud of fog for her exhibition, titled Spray.”
Artnet: From Kurt Cobain to Majestic Horses—Here Are 10 Must-See Photo Books of 2024
“If this book was being reviewed purely on the merits of its photography, it wouldn’t make this list. Every single picture in this book is out of focus or has motion blur. It is printed on paper more suitable for printing text than photos. And the pictures all apparently depict people engaged in acts of hedonism like streaking in public with nothing remarkable about their compositions or subject matter. Yet this was my absolute favorite book on this list.
Ahren Warner, a poet, has written a novella that is compelling for being written from the second-person point of view with stylistically lowercase sentences that make it feel like you’re stuck in a drug-fueled adventure game with poorly translated subtitles: think Grand Theft Auto: Bangkok. And though the book takes its name from an A$AP Rocky song, it could have alternatively been titled “The Best Party Hostel Chain in Thailand,” a hilarious motif that repeats throughout the book.”
Émergent Magazine: Ella Fleck at Season 4 Episode 6
This piece did not feature text, but a selection of installation shots instead.