Toothfish - International Street Artist - opening 12/10/12

Toothfish - International Street Artist - opening at Photospace Gallery Friday 12th Oct. 5pm-7pm

Well, this is about the craziest show ever at Photospace. To say it’s photography is stretching it a bit, although there will be a photographic component, namely; photos of Toothfish posters and other artworks that have appeared in many cities worldwide. The main part of the show will comprise posters and other merch, and animal masks (so I’m told, at least).

As a gimmick (and I can’t grace it with any more significance than that), Toothfish will pay some people to take some artworks to be taken away from the gallery. The rest of the posters and artworks will be for sale in the normal manner.

Here’s what Toothfish (whoever they are) have to say about it:

When pushed on the subject, Photospace Gallery owner James Gilberd expressed some anxiety about the upcoming Toothfish exhibition, which is due to open at Photospace on Friday October 12th. For one thing, he has never actually met the ‘international’ street artist (or artists) who operate under that banner. For another, Toothfish has some oddball idea about paying people to take some of the artworks away from the gallery. This would, Gilberd says, appear to be bad business, and perhaps to be taking anti-Capitalism too far.

“I heard about Toothfish from an artist friend in London, who organised a Toothfish exhibition earlier in 2012. This friend had never met the artist either. All he can now tell me is of dealing with a person wearing what looked to be a mask made from a horse’s skull. The artist refused to remove the mask, which was hampering communication, and she even denied that it was in fact a mask.

So, Toothfish is not your average street artist. Whatever Toothfish actually is, its posters have appeared all over the world. Many depict animals as righteous gods of nature whose wrath we all should fear. Toothfish itself claims not to be human but some sort of creature/s called into existence by the nightmares of our collective unconscious.

The most recent poster, which covered walls in Luxembourg, London, Paris and Wellington, features massive dollar signs and the word SOLD! Other posters have also addressed what Toothfish calls our “skewed value concepts”, and at its show at Photospace – October 10th to 30th – Toothfish is putting its money where its toothy mouth is. Much of the work, which includes prints, posters and primitive masks, will be for sale in the conventional way; but there will be a number of works that Toothfish will pay people to remove from the gallery! The first three people to twig the new value system can walk out with a work and some crisp, new banknotes if they remove the art from the gallery straight away and promise never to bring it back again.

No wonder the gallery owner is feeling a bit like he’s fallen down a rabbit hole.

Interviews with Toothfish can be done by phone or email only, as a live appearance is really not on the cards. Please contact James Gilberd at Photospace Gallery for contact info. Photographs of artworks can be supplied.

If you want more guff (and it gets even stranger) have a look at the Toothfish website page for this event: http://www.toothfish.org/News/tabid/2520/ID/1344/Toothfish--New-Zealand-Show.aspx

Whatever – the opening is on Friday evening, 12th October, 5pm-7pm. Come along. It’ll be a riot.

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