Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the free, free spin-off of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give artworld insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives. on the circuit. To read the last Wet Paint column, Click here (members only).
Martine Syms is the multi-caesura artist par excellence. I first fell in love with her work at the 2019 Whitney Biennial where her play, Introduction to Threat Modelingstole the show in my opinion, and since then his work has continued to amaze me in new and inventive ways (if you haven’t seen his feature The Desperate African however, I highly recommend it). The artist was an obvious choice for a week in nature, and she even wrote her own introduction to her photo essay. Without delay…
Three weeks ago I was in Mexico in an unnamed beach town with my dear friend Cassie Marketos. My other friend Mariko was there the month before and gave me a detailed note with all the tea for the holidays in a box. Every day I surfed, swam, strolled, read and went to bed naked. I spoke my baby Spanish and cooked simple meals.
One of the books I was reading was by Fanny HoweThe wedding dress‘, which was sent to me by my friend and art dealer Marta Fontalan. I just picked it up off the shelf and remembered that I had let Cassie borrow it.
There is a chapter on perplexity and learning to find oneself in the dark. I appreciated (accepted?) this moment of confusion. Ursula Le Guin says it’s my country. I live all night, settling here.
I shot the Moon again last night.
In no apparent order:
It’s my workshop. It was Oscar weekend. I dined with Mia Goth at Chateau Marmont (along with 30 of our closest friends) thanks to Prada. Next, Janicza Bravo and I went to the CAA Oscar Party at Sunset Tower (I’m a Tower Girl if you must know, obviously). Morgan Freeman was the first person we saw and he welcomed us with open arms. Later, I went to Daniel Kaluuya’s party at the Black Soho House. On the way, I spoke on the phone with Hans Ulrich Obrist. I came home and remembered that I forgot to take pictures. I took this one to remember.
It was from last year when I made the toad. It was just before. It was on the same roll. Moreover, time does not really exist. My shaman was Meghan Markle’s stylist.
Vegyn aka Joe in my studio at some point. We were playing guitar. He sent me a cute piece that I wrote a song about and later turned into a drawing. The design also bears one of his footprints.
It’s 2:22 p.m. right now. It’s a nice photo of Farah Al Qasimi. She brought me and Diamond some gifts from home. Also with Diamond’s hand. We were at a bar in Bed-Stuy and I was drinking a hojicha cocktail.
Erin Meuchner and Brent David Freaney in front of my works at Brent’s. It was just before we watched MILF mansion, and right after Erin and I came back from MoMA where you can see my work on “Lessons in SIGNALS: How Video Transformed the World”. Stuart Comer showed us around the show and I met his parents. I’m obsessed with many of the works in the show, but the installations by Gretchen Bender and Dara Birnbaum blew me away. There’s also a brilliant Bender installation downstairs in the collectible display, alongside a rarely seen video of Theo Eshetu and Diamond Stingily sculptures!!!
Last year I won a Herb Alpert award! As part of this incredible award, you complete a one-week residency at CalArts. CalArts and I have a long, spiraling relationship. I was happy to be there. I stayed at the Valencia Hyatt – highly recommend, it’s basically in a strip mall and has a pool, room service and a movie theatre. It was the full moon; I asked Ruby McCollister what she thought that meant and she said “GO FORTH AND DIVA”. I haven’t looked back since. This is Bethlehem Tsehai, MFA Art 2. We had a fun conversation about anger.
The Desperate African was nominated for a John Cassavetes Award at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards. Cassavetes is one of my heroes and I am proud to be recognized in his honor. I had never been to an award ceremony. Vic said it’s similar to a wedding in that you’re dressed in formal attire at 11 a.m. and drinking bourbon at noon.
This is us at 11 a.m. Co-writer/producer Rocket Caleshu, producer Vic Brooks and number 1 on the call sheet, Diamond Stingily. We sound like a band that’s been together for a while, we’ve grown a lot and have never sounded better. Not pictured: Daisy Zhou and Evan Calder Williams, who joined us later for the party.
Diamond wearing Women’s History Museum.
Me in the valley the day before. My sister Joy Yoon let me borrow some Comme Des Garçons, Molly Goddard and Noir Kei Ninomiya for the Spirits. She lives in a cool mid-century house and we set off a tulle bomb. Then after Yoon nailed the look for me, we went to get some Zankou for the family. My nephew Alden was stuffed with birthday cake. He said to me, “You’re not a good boy, you’re just a mom!” He does not know that I am neither.
Tulle bomb in the guest room. If I could wear puffs all day, I would.
Bridget Donahue, BFF/art dealer, next to the painting by Mark Van Yetter. I was struck by the fish sitting on a chair. I felt like a cousin of the feminist fish who rides a bike. I also took a photo of Nik and Sabrina but it didn’t go well. Neither did my pictures of Cheryl Dunye. Anyway, after that we went to see The Seagull/Woodstock, NY with Parker Posey, Nat Wolff, Hari Nef and several other girls. And after that, we had drinks in Marseille. I read The Seagull earlier this year after my acting classmate Shamin Shukkoor inspired me. Shamin was reading one of Konstantin’s monologues. I also forgot to take a picture of my acting class but I’m learning a lot from them all.
Laurel Halo in the studio after taking some photos for her album cover.
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