Emily SundbladIf you leave me I will destroy youMarchMar 11th - AprilApr 30th, 2010Gaga Mexico City

Is a three-part, site-specific exhibition by Emily Sundblad, taking place in three different Mexico City locations.The exhibition title is a quote from an interview with Gilbert and George about their dealer Konrad Fischer, who supposedly said this to the artists (and “this proves he was very fond of us”). Having worked as a gallerist myself for the last six years, I can fully relate to the tragic-comical drama of this statement and to the nature of the relationship between artists and art dealers that it captures. In conversations with my dealer colleagues, a mental and physical experience of being simultaneously created and destroyed by our jobs is a recurrent theme. Collaboration involves a tricky politics of togetherness where business loses its distinction from love, and where co-dependency breeds dreams of betrayal. My show is a performance and this is its title.

The composer and pianist Pete Drungle and I have put together a recital of popular songs interpreted by us especially for Mexico City. On March 10th we will attempt to play our music on a busy downtown street (location to be announced). By playing on the street I am hoping to reach an audience outside of the art world. The role that popular love songs – Rancheras – play in Mexico City life was our starting point. Crying out for love, these sex- and death-driven songs appear everywhere and cut across class as well as professional and physical boundaries. As a singer, I can be a woman, a man, a hysteric, sovreign, a mess and a messenger. There will also be music in the gallery on opening night.

Showing my paintings at the restaurant Contramar is a wink to Martin Kippenberger. Unlike him, I am not a full-time painter, perhaps more of a Sunday painter, a pleasure painter. Here, my paintings are on the run from the gallery, just as I am on the run from my job as a gallerist. But we don’t run very far; the restaurant is next door to GaGa. The paintings were made especially for Contramar, which plays a pivotal role in Mexico City’s cultural and social life. (Gabriela Camara, who owns Contramar is the best friend, landlord, neighbor and patron of my gallerist Fernando Mesta).

Restaurants like it are places where careers and lives can be made and unmade during the course of a meal.

Picabia’s painting Woman in blue scarf, 1942, is on consignment to GaGa from Michael Werner Gallery in New York. It is being exhibited in the gallery via an i-chat live feed from New York City.

The potential sale of this painting generates 10% of it’s full value for GaGa. Projected here, the Picabia becomes a 6 week long movie/ telephone call. It is a hustle as artwork.

hustle verb (PERSUADE)
/ˈhʌs.l/
[I or T] mainly US informal to try to persuade someone, especially to buy something, often illegally
to hustle for business/customers
They made a living hustling stolen goods on the streets.

Thanks to Pete Drungle, Fernando Mesta, Gabriela Cámara, John Kelsey, Margaret Lee, Jared Madere, Britt Marie Sundblad and Amy Greenspon, José Rojas

Emily Sundblad, March 2010 Mexico City
RIP- Alexander McQueen

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Works

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Street performance
Centro Histórico, Gante y 5 de mayo

10 March 2010, 9pm
Fotos: Margaret Lee

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you
House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Opening night performance
GAGA
11 March, 2010, 8pm
Fotos: John Kelsey and Eduardo Egea

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Paintings in contramar
From March 11 to April 30
Fotos: Diego Berruecos

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Self Portrait, 2010
Oil/ canvas
68.11 x 28.74 in/173 x 73 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

The piano teacher, 2010
Oil/ canvas
25 x 21.06 in/ 63.5 x 53.5 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Contramar 1, 2010
Oil/ canvas
21.06 x 25.19 in /53.5 x 64 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Lee McQueen’s wake, 2010
Oil/ canvas
40.15 x 29.92 in /102 x 76 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Contramar 2, 2010
Oil/ canvas
25 x 21.06 in /63.5 x 53.5 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

Have you been diagnosed with HIV? Do you have diarrea? Are you at least 18 years old?, 2010
Oil/ canvas
21.65 x 21.65 in /55 x 55 cm

House of Gaga ❧ If you leave me I will destroy you

Emily Sundblad

La llamada / The call, 2010
Live chat from March 11 to April 30
Projected is Francis Picabia, Woman in the blue scarf
Oil on board
18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in / 46.6 x 37.2 cm
On consignment to GAGA via Reena Spaulings from Michael Werner

Songs

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Emily Sundblad

Dias y Flores

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Emily Sundblad

Disfruta el Silencio

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Emily Sundblad

Gloomy Sunday

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Emily Sundblad

I hope / The beautiful ones

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Emily Sundblad

Mi viejo