Until Sunday the Lower East Side gallery Reena Spaulings Fine Art is doubling as a makeshift soundstage for Alex Israel’s parody talk show “As It LAys” (whose title references SoCal author Joan Didion’s novel “Play It As It Lays”) for which the Los Angeles-based artist interviewed some of that city’s celebrities — including Quincy Jones, Marilyn Manson, James Caan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Christina Ricci — in a hilarious, deadpan tone, asking them inane questions like “When you travel, do you take advantage of duty free shopping?” and “What are your thoughts on marijuana?” Alongside the talk show set (pictured), a mock green room lets gallery visitors watch all of the hysterical exchanges from appropriately tacky couches.
The interviewees alternately seem earnest, confused, and a little exasperated when responding to the awkward questions, especially when Israel remains stone-faced after they deliver a zinger. Ricci, for instance, speeds through her interview, answering questions like “Mixing business and pleasure: a no-no, or not so bad?” with a few words.
Meanwhile Manson goes on wild tangents that sometimes suggest serious reflection and thought, but just as often veer into offensive platitudes. Asked “What do you like to do to pass time on a long flight?” the punk singer recalls a drunken journey to Estonia, a country he “didn’t really believe existed because I’d never heard of it.”
Israel has been posting the interviews on YouTube throughout the run of the exhibition, though there’s a great deal to be said for watching them in the gallery. Here he is talking to a visibly irritated Bret Easton Ellis:
Alex Israel’s “As It LAys” continues at Reena Spaulings Fine Art through April 8.
— Benjamin Sutton