Sarah Hromack

Hello: forwardretreat (at) gmail (dot) com
Work: whitney.org
The Art Production Fund’s new “lab” at 15 Wooster Street — a.k.a. the ground floor project space run in partnership with luxury development Soho Mews — is playing host to Delusional Downtown Divas, a sitcom spoof co-produced with Index Magazine. Triple D, as it shall henceforth be known, bills itself as “an episodic film about three art brats trying hard to be effortless.” It’s a little more than that: I happened by the gallery-turned-lounge on Saturday to find a daytime slumber party of sorts, as director Lena Dunham, along with her co-stars Joana D’Avillez and Isabel Halley — yes, Peter Halley’s daughter. Cope. — held court from the divan. On a flat screen TV strategically positioned facing the street from the gallery’s storefront window, Triple D’s fictional Hiptards, Oona, Swann, and AgNess, struggle desperately to insinuate themselves into a cold, cruel New York art world that just doesn’t give a damn about daddy’s money. Cliches abound: As it did to me, Triple D will prove exceptionally amusing to any woman who worked, or is working, in an art world “starter” job; in one scene, Dunham’s character spins her boss’s instructions into a rhetorical whirlwind so fierce that simple data entry may as well be endurance art. I laughed aloud — too loudly, even; uncharacteristically so. Keeping watch over his real estate — Deitch Projects has a relationship with Soho Mews, too — Jeffrey Deitch popped inside shortly after I did. (A quick arching of the eyebrows above his trademark spectacles seemed to indicate that Mr. Deitch was also at least marginally amused by the scene at hand.) Cigarettes, costume swaps, and guest appearances by the likes of Nate Lowman and Isaac Mizrahi has prompted Index to bill the series as “Ab-Fab with a heft dose of Ali G.” I’ll go with that, and add this: Delusional Downtown Divas is what Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential might have been. Should have been, even: Parody that isn’t afraid of its own schlock — that isn’t afraid to fuck up. Why script real, unreal life more than it already is? I like these girls — they remind me of me, back when I scoured MICA’s painting department to organize a show of student work that mimicked one professor’s ubiquitous style. An art school one-liner, yes — but that was years ago now. These Triple D’s still have time. + Delusional Downtown Divas (Index Mag) Downtown Delusional Divas On View at The Art Production Fund Lab, 15 Wooster Street, through 18 January. Directed by Lena Dunham. Starring Joana D’Avillez, Lena Dunham, & Isabel Halley. Also Starring Audrey Gelman & Gabriel Held. With guest appearences by Isaac Mizrahi, Nate Lowman, Rachel Chandler, Dakota Solt, Clarissa Dalrymple & many more. Shot by Sara Rossein. Edited by Sara Rossein & Christian Schultz. Featuring music by Lissy Trullie, Modrocket, Patrick Cleandenim, Kevin Bewersdorf, The Senors of Marseilles & many more.The Art Production Fund’s new “lab” at 15 Wooster Street — a.k.a. the ground floor project space run in partnership with luxury development Soho Mews — is playing host to Delusional Downtown Divas, a sitcom spoof co-produced with Index Magazine. Triple D, as it shall henceforth be known, bills itself as “an episodic film about three art brats trying hard to be effortless.” It’s a little more than that: I happened by the gallery-turned-lounge on Saturday to find a daytime slumber party of sorts, as director Lena Dunham, along with her co-stars Joana D’Avillez and Isabel Halley — yes, Peter Halley’s daughter. Cope. — held court from the divan. On a flat screen TV strategically positioned facing the street from the gallery’s storefront window, Triple D’s fictional Hiptards, Oona, Swann, and AgNess, struggle desperately to insinuate themselves into a cold, cruel New York art world that just doesn’t give a damn about daddy’s money. Cliches abound: As it did to me, Triple D will prove exceptionally amusing to any woman who worked, or is working, in an art world “starter” job; in one scene, Dunham’s character spins her boss’s instructions into a rhetorical whirlwind so fierce that simple data entry may as well be endurance art. I laughed aloud — too loudly, even; uncharacteristically so. Keeping watch over his real estate — Deitch Projects has a relationship with Soho Mews, too — Jeffrey Deitch popped inside shortly after I did. (A quick arching of the eyebrows above his trademark spectacles seemed to indicate that Mr. Deitch was also at least marginally amused by the scene at hand.) Cigarettes, costume swaps, and guest appearances by the likes of Nate Lowman and Isaac Mizrahi has prompted Index to bill the series as “Ab-Fab with a heft dose of Ali G.” I’ll go with that, and add this: Delusional Downtown Divas is what Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential might have been. Should have been, even: Parody that isn’t afraid of its own schlock — that isn’t afraid to fuck up. Why script real, unreal life more than it already is? I like these girls — they remind me of me, back when I scoured MICA’s painting department to organize a show of student work that mimicked one professor’s ubiquitous style. An art school one-liner, yes — but that was years ago now. These Triple D’s still have time. + Delusional Downtown Divas (Index Mag) Downtown Delusional Divas On View at The Art Production Fund Lab, 15 Wooster Street, through 18 January. Directed by Lena Dunham. Starring Joana D’Avillez, Lena Dunham, & Isabel Halley. Also Starring Audrey Gelman & Gabriel Held. With guest appearences by Isaac Mizrahi, Nate Lowman, Rachel Chandler, Dakota Solt, Clarissa Dalrymple & many more. Shot by Sara Rossein. Edited by Sara Rossein & Christian Schultz. Featuring music by Lissy Trullie, Modrocket, Patrick Cleandenim, Kevin Bewersdorf, The Senors of Marseilles & many more.

The Art Production Fund’s new “lab” at 15 Wooster Street — a.k.a. the ground floor project space run in partnership with luxury development Soho Mews — is playing host to Delusional Downtown Divas, a sitcom spoof co-produced with Index Magazine. Triple D, as it shall henceforth be known, bills itself as “an episodic film about three art brats trying hard to be effortless.” It’s a little more than that: I happened by the gallery-turned-lounge on Saturday to find a daytime slumber party of sorts, as director Lena Dunham, along with her co-stars Joana D’Avillez and Isabel Halley — yes, Peter Halley’s daughter. Cope. — held court from the divan.

On a flat screen TV strategically positioned facing the street from the gallery’s storefront window, Triple D’s fictional Hiptards, Oona, Swann, and AgNess, struggle desperately to insinuate themselves into a cold, cruel New York art world that just doesn’t give a damn about daddy’s money. Cliches abound: As it did to me, Triple D will prove exceptionally amusing to any woman who worked, or is working, in an art world “starter” job; in one scene, Dunham’s character spins her boss’s instructions into a rhetorical whirlwind so fierce that simple data entry may as well be endurance art. I laughed aloud — too loudly, even; uncharacteristically so. Keeping watch over his real estate — Deitch Projects has a relationship with Soho Mews, too — Jeffrey Deitch popped inside shortly after I did. (A quick arching of the eyebrows above his trademark spectacles seemed to indicate that Mr. Deitch was also at least marginally amused by the scene at hand.)

Cigarettes, costume swaps, and guest appearances by the likes of Nate Lowman and Isaac Mizrahi has prompted Index to bill the series as “Ab-Fab with a heft dose of Ali G.” I’ll go with that, and add this: Delusional Downtown Divas is what Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential might have been. Should have been, even: Parody that isn’t afraid of its own schlock — that isn’t afraid to fuck up. Why script real, unreal life more than it already is?

I like these girls — they remind me of me, back when I scoured MICA’s painting department to organize a show of student work that mimicked one professor’s ubiquitous style. An art school one-liner, yes — but that was years ago now. These Triple D’s still have time.

+ Delusional Downtown Divas (Index Mag)

Downtown Delusional Divas
On View at The Art Production Fund Lab, 15 Wooster Street, through 18 January.

Directed by Lena Dunham. Starring Joana D’Avillez, Lena Dunham, & Isabel Halley. Also Starring Audrey Gelman & Gabriel Held. With guest appearences by Isaac Mizrahi, Nate Lowman, Rachel Chandler, Dakota Solt, Clarissa Dalrymple & many more. Shot by Sara Rossein. Edited by Sara Rossein & Christian Schultz. Featuring music by Lissy Trullie, Modrocket, Patrick Cleandenim, Kevin Bewersdorf, The Senors of Marseilles & many more.


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