This weekend, self-sexualized conceptual artist Leah Schrager moves from Social Media screens into live in-person performance and image-making at the Montauk Beach House as part of a solo show presented at the hotel. The exhibition "Unprotected Specs," is on view in the hotel's Lobby Gallery from July 5 to 17, 2019 with an Opening Reception on Friday, July 5, 2019 from 6 to 10 p.m. Her performance "Angles on a Woman" takes place on Saturday, July 6, 2019 from 2 to 5 p.m. The performance will unfold across the public spaces of the hotel. No reservations are necessary and admission is free.
A production of the digital age, Leah Schrager uses sexually provocative photographs of herself as base image which are then digitally altered or enhanced to "censor" while continuing to reveal. Art designed for IRL (In Real Life) are printed on photographic paper or aluminum with full repositories of images diseminated on multiple Instagram accounts.
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"Too Hot To See" by Leah Schrager. Courtesy Roman Fine Art.
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Schrager’s performance Angles on a Woman at The Montauk Beach House is a reflection of her process and an investigation of Jacques Derrida’s “Copy, Archive, Signature: A Conversation on Photography,” in which he states that photography is “as much production as recording of images, as much act as gaze, as much performative event as passive archivization,” according to the artist's representative.
To create her pieces, Schrager travels to hotels or home shares like Airbnb and photographs herself by performing for the camera. She then processes the images through selection, touch up, and digital painting. Finally, she posts the images on various social media platforms.
In her live performance, viewers will see her production process in its three stages: Act I – Photoshoot; Act II – Processing; Act III – Posting. Schrager will be wearing the same costume in one setting but will embody three different kinds of women using different camera angles, physical poses, and capture moments. As part of Act III Schrager will post her selections to three different Instagram accounts, one of which is a “finsta” celebrity called @OnaArtist that she created in her own image and which currently has 3 million Instagram followers.
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"Not Your Mothers Porn (Eat Your Veggies)" by Leah Schrager. Courtesy of Roman Fine Art.
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Not Your Mother’s Porn (Time’s Up) (2019) is a visual work consisting of a base photograph and an overlay of a secondary image through which the base photograph is altered. In the base photograph, Schrager is performing as "Ona," an alternate persona, who is seated nude on a bed in an Airbnb with her legs open and in the act of pulling down her panties.
The secondary overlay is a stock image of a cartoon-like illustration of a woman holding an alarm clock. The photograph has the cartoon overlay applied and meshes the full nude with a princess-like motif. The illustrative layers-featuring a woman’s head and an alarm clock--are strategically positioned to cloak the woman's nudity and pushes the eroticism in a different direction.
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"Not Your Mothers Porn (Time's Up)" by Leah Schrager. Courtesy Roman Fine Art.
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Schrager’s practice is situated in a contemporary hotbed of female (in)appropriateness, censorship, celebrity/fandom, and personal branding that seeks to explore female biography and labor in today’s global society, according to the artist's rep.
Living and working in Brooklyn, NY, she received her MFA in Fine Art from Parsons in 2015. She has exhibited at the Museum of Visual Art in Leipzig, the Geothe-Institut in Baku, Johannes Vogt Gallery, Untitled Space, and Roman Fine Art, among others. She has been featured in Artforum, Monopol, Forbes, Time, Glamour, Artinfo, Elephant, Dazed & Confused, Vice, Playboy, Huffington Post, Viceland, NY Magazine, among others.
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Leah Schrager "Screen Shot 2019, 06/24 at 11.31.30 AM" Courtesy Roman Fine Art.
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In addition to her Montauk Beach House exhibition and performance. her work will be exhibited with Roman Fine Art in the gallery's booth at Market Art + Design and at the gallery in its annual "Art on the Edge" survey of edgy contemporary art. Her art will also be part of the art auction held at Watermill Center Summer Benefit taking place on July 27, 2019.
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