Catch of the Day

Picture a fish market. It’s an age-old place of commerce, fueled by the ocean and all it yields. Vendors buzz with excitement about their latest hauls, fresh from the cool breeze of open water. You can’t help but imagine them on boats, intrepid and fearless as they carry out their vocation. In all of its zeal and epic connotations, it’s an environment that’s ripe for artistic consideration.

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Or, in this case, artistic replication. This coming weekend, Italian collective Canemorto makes their first major performance in the states with a pop-up “Fish Market” interactive installation that lives up to its title. Inside East Village gallery Gratin, the trio of anonymous artists will don their signature face coverings while acting as “fishmongers,” manning a refrigerated counter stocked with drawings and other non-edible works, packaged like different types of seafood. “We welcome the public with the impetuous attitude of fish sellers, pushing visitors to purchase fresh products amid shouts, offers and slogans,” the collective explain. Joining them will be three gallerists from the Milan-based MATTA, who will play the part of cashiers and shop assistants, to help to build what the artists describe as “a surreal atmosphere of a family-run shop.” 

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Indeed, the faux fare mimics what one might find on offer in a traditional Italian fish shop. There’s the “fried drawing,” made with squid ink on rice paper, which will be deep-fried in an actual deep fryer before it’s served, rolled up in a cone (also the only thing in “Fish Market” that will actually be edible). Separately, their “frozen drawings,” rendered on waterproof stone-dust paper, each come frozen in a brick of ice. A series of “alive” paintings will be stored in a fish tank. Patrons can also find small-scale drawings and oil paintings rolled up and packaged in jars of vegetable oil. A “grand slice” painting exists on a long roll of paper, sold by slices per linear inch. Across the walls is a medley of hokey maritime-themed decor: Think fishermen's nets flanked by a mix of on-the-nose, mostly thrifted paintings, of boats, men fishing, and sea creatures.

This isn’t the first time that Canemorto has found inspiration in quotidian commercial food spaces. The collective has previously realized a makeshift pizzeria in a 2017 project in Gent, and in 2019 briefly ran their own osteria out of the real restaurant Trattoria San Biagio in Orsenigo, Italy. Conceptually, with such performances, the group aims to “reshuffle the gap between everyday spaces and those of art, market dynamics, the value and conservation of works, the distinctions between art and craftsmanship,” they explain.

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For prospective shoppers, the visit should certainly be a memorable one, especially given the unusual option in the fine-art world of being able to buy and walk away with a work from a gallery in one quick visit. (The pieces start at just a few dollars.) This conspicuously casual experiential layer is deliberate on the part of Canemorto, meant to put the “curious art passerby” on the same level as the “expert art collector.” As they elaborate, the goal is to create a parallel reality in which it is “absolutely normal to treat art like fish,” with the art likewise priced in the same range as basic foodstuff. So, dive in!

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Canemorto’s “Fish Market” is open October 10 through October 12, 2024 at Gratin at 76 Avenue B, New York, NY 10009.