Frieze London London

David L. Johnson

For this year’s Frieze London, we are excited to present existing and new works by American artist David L. Johnson. Our presentation will include sculptural works from Johnson’s ongoing Loiter series alongside an early video work from 2014.The sculptural subjects in Johnson’s Loiter series were originally installed on standpipes (outdoor fire connections) by building owners in New York City. Colloquially known as “standpipe spikes,” the initial purpose of these objects is to intervene in the city’s architecture, eliminating the possibility of the standpipe as a place to rest or ‘loiter.’  Loitering, or "doing nothing," poses a representational threat to capitalist norms and can even result in criminal charges in New York, where intentionally vague laws justify the surveillance of certain groups. Johnson’s intervention involves the unauthorized removal of this hostile architecture, reclaiming public space in the process. When exhibited in a gallery or fair setting, these varied objects become artworks, each reflecting distinct aesthetic and formal choices by their fabricators beyond their original function.A companion to the Loiter works is Johnson’s video piece, Snow, captured during a blizzard in New York City. The video juxtaposes a maintenance worker sweeping snow outside a building where art collector and real estate developer Edward Minskoff and contemporary artist Jeff Koons are unveiling a sculpture of a red balloon dog in the lobby. This work highlights the tension between different economic classes and the privatization of public spaces. The focus shifts between these scenes until Minskoff and Koons exit the building, walking to a car parked directly in front of the continuously swept entrance. The piece was originally displayed on a television connected to the building’s outdoor utility outlet.

David L. Johnson (b. 1993, New York, NY) lives and works in New York City. Johnson received a BFA from the Cooper Union in 2015 and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. He is an alumnus of the Whitney Independent Study Program. Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Scupper, François Ghebaly (Los Angeles, CA, 2024); From the Street I Can See the Moon, The Shop (London, UK, 2024); Chapter II: Refusal, Gianni Manhattan (Vienna, AT, 2024); I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it, Fanta (Milan, IT, 2024); plus one (part II), Ensemble (New York, US, 2024); Semantic Drift, Galerie Thomas Schulte (Berlin, DE, 2023); CAT, Galerie Noah Klink (Berlin, DE, 2023). His work is in the public collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, US).

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