Artists Space

Fag, Stag, or Drag?

Conversation
March 29, 2018, 7pm

John Neff and Frederick Weston use their artworks as prompts to initiate a conversation about art, intoxication and order. The discussion will occur within a three-dimensional collage rendering of Weston's proposed SoBar ("Sober Bar"), an alcohol-free club for conversation, cruising and happenings.

Collage featuring a color image of the Mr. Peanut brand logo surrounded by black-and-white imagery, including a boy carrying a bindle.
Frederick Weston, SoBar, 2018. Collage. [Collage featuring a color image of the Mr. Peanut brand logo surrounded by black-and-white imagery, including a boy carrying a bindle.]

The phrase "fag, stag, or drag?" indicates possible responses to an invitation to a party, and was popular from the 1970s to the 1990s. To respond "fag" means that you will not be attending—you will be fagging out. To respond "stag" is to announce that you will be attending alone. To respond "drag" is to note that you will attend plus one (or more as specified)—you will be dragging along your entourage.

Fag, Stag, or Drag? is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Coop Fund, Amalle Dublon & Constantina Zavitsanos, Devin Kenny, John Neff (February 11 – March 31, 2018)

John Neff makes artworks, organizes exhibitions, and works as a teaching artist. He serves as a curatorial board member at Chicago’s Iceberg Projects, co-director of the Ravenswood Elementary School Curatorial Practice Program, and a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Low-Residency MFA Program. Neff has exhibited in galleries and museums nationally since 1999.

Frederick Weston is an artist who often works in collage and performance. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Weston moved to New York to pursue art and fashion in the early 1970s. He was a co-founder of guerrilla artist group Underground Railroad in the mid-1990s, which produced street art and outdoor installations. His work is currently on view in the exhibition Tag: Proposals on Queer Play and the Ways Forward at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.

Fag, Stag, or Drag? Conversation documentation, March 29, 2018, Artists Space. [Video documentation of a conversation between John Neff and Frederick Weston.]

With thanks to M1-5 Lounge.