I Want You to Want Me

In 2009 I curated a group exhibition at my former gallery, Marx & Zavattero. I Want You To Want Me, featured a dynamic group of artists whose practice fetishizes and/or co-opts fashion and music as a personal strategy to get at deeper artistic, economic, political, sexual, and racial truths. The title was inspired by the yearning lyrics of 1970’s Cheap Trick that worked on my sensitive pre-teen nerves in various ways.

I was thrilled to have the cooperation of several outside galleries and was able to pull together some great new works by Tim Bavington, Libby Black, Kendell Carter, Marcel Dzama, James Gobel, David Hevel, Danius Kesminas/Punkasila, William Powhida, Simmons & Burke, Hank Willis Thomas, Marnie Weber, and Kehinde Wiley.

Like art, both fashion and music are an important expression of modern culture and I strove for I Want You To Want Me to celebrate the various forms of expression that this fusion elicits in all its glamour, fantasy, and social critique. I also wanted to personally convey on a more subtle level the angst of being a member of the art world whether as an artist, gallerist, writer etc...and of always wanting to belong--hence the title.

We ended the opening night evening with a killer performance by a since retired San Francisco art/dance troupe Tekniq in our space.