December 6, 2018, by Alina Cohen.
Thierry Goldberg Gallery
Positions, Booth P9
With works by Tschabalala Self
28-year-old artist Tschabalala Self has turned Thierry Goldberg’s booth into a bodega. A checkerboard floor lines the ground, and a round, convex mirror—generally used to catch shoplifters and thieves—hangs in the back corner. In keeping with the theme, Self has created two medium-density fiberboard sculptures that resemble milk crates, one blue and one red. A painting on the wall, entitled Racer (2018), depicts a man crouching in front of a shelf full of Tide bottles. (His jacket itself features a Tide bottle on its back.) It’s a neat trick, as Self makes a small space within the bustling art fair resemble your average corner shop and egg-and-cheese purveyor. Of course, her work costs a bit more than a stack of Maria cookies. And yet the gallery has done brisk business; within the first hour of opening, it had sold everything on offer, with one painting heading to the Art Institute of Chicago.