The Spring/Break Art Fair Once Again Brings Quirky Surprises to Los Angeles, From Musical Chandeliers to Live Mystery Tattooing
Sarah Cascone, Artnet, February 16, 2023
Taylor Lee Nicholson with their work at Spring Break Art Show Los Angeles 2023. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
The New York and L.A. fair known as Spring/Break Art Show always feels like a place where anything can happen, with cofounders Andrew Gori and Ambre Kelly ready to “yes and” even the wildest ideas from curators.
The fair’s fourth Los Angeles edition continues in this grand tradition, showing everything from an inflatable Mark Zuckerberg to a tattoo glory hole to—perhaps most shockingly of all—a multimillion-dollar Alice Neel painting.
The wide-ranging mix is what makes the fair so special, Kelly told Artnet News, noting that for some of the artists, “this is their very first show anywhere.”
Among them was Taylor Lee Nicholson, who drove 35 hours with their papier-mâché sculptures in tow. They had previously only exhibited at small venues in Charlotte, North Carolina, like the McColl Center, but had crafted an ambitious display for their L.A. debut, inspired by the demolition of their childhood home.
“My grandmother kept it a secret that the house was sinking,” Nicholson said. It was only when grandma literally fell though a hole in the rotting kitchen floor that the family realized she’d been stuffing tabloids and newspapers under the home in a futile effort to reinforce the foundation and absorb the rising waters.
Taylor Lee Nicholson, Monica Talks (2022). Courtesy of the artist.
Nicholson’s installation, curated by Janet Loren Hill and Jonell Logan, represents the aftermath of the destruction and the random belongings scattered across the yard. That includes a cooler full of PBR, a rack of trucker hats, and countless cigarette butts. The cheapest works on offer are just $35 each, going up to $1,200 for one of three vintage tabloids from the 1990s, meticulously embellished with glittering beads.