Jeff Elrod
Double Lost Horse, 2016
UV ink on Fisher canvas
72h x 67w x 1 1/4d in
© Jeff Elrod; Photo by Argenis Apolinario; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Ahead of his new exhibit, “The Age of Ambiguity,” art’s most famous arbitrator discusses new trends and his old boss.
It’s fitting that when Vanity Fair special correspondent Bob Colacello was asked to curate an exhibit for Vito Schnabel’s St. Moritz gallery, he chose “undefinability” as its theme. (After all, this is a man who once told The New York Times, “I believe in going out, not coming out.”) “The Age of Ambiguity,” which opens January 29, focuses on the complex relationship between abstraction and figuration. Once upon a time, the two were considered mutually exclusive—but, as Colacello explores, time and turmoil have blurred the genres, creating an artistic landscape in which “everything is fluid and nothing is concrete.” The show includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Borna Sammak, Jacqueline Humphries, and Andy Warhol, who employed Colacello as the editor of Interview magazine from 1971 until 1983.
Ahead of the exhibit’s opening, VF.com talked to Colacello about its conception, fake news, and Warhol’s unorthodox Christmas gifts.