Only Idiots Smile

Gregg Bordowitzs 2017 performance lecture Only Idiots Smile features the artist on a stool in the New Museums topfloor sky room riffing on the formation of his identity At one point he explains his Jewish identity is the template thru which I understand all my other identities how to appear to others how wed like to seem to others how others might frame themselves to be seen by us In this way Bordowitz gestures at what seems to be the most legible piece of this exhibition templates for framing each artist explores variations on the frame through presentation history fantasy sculptural construction and material Rindon Johnson