Jeffrey Deitch Returns to Wooster Street Gallery with Eddie Peake Show

Get ready for lots of body paint.

Eddie Peake, ENDYMION (2013). Courtesy of the artist via Jeffrey Deitch.

Following his short, two-year tenure as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s director, which he left in 2013, bespectacled gallerist Jeffery Deitch returned to New York City to set up shop again at his old space on 76 Grand Street in Soho. Since his return to the East Coast, Deitch has held exhibitions for Tom Sachs and “The Wolfpack” Angulo Brothers, among others.

Now Deitch is returning to the storied gallery on 18 Wooster Street (which effectively finds him reclaiming the Soho space from the Swiss Institute). The veteran gallerist has already announced a strong lineup for the fall, including an inaugural exhibition surveying art critic Walter Robinson’s work on September 17.

Artist Eddie Peake poses at Eddie Peake: The Forever Loop at the Barbican Art Gallery on October 8, 2015 in London, England. Courtesy of Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Barbican Art Gallery.

Artist Eddie Peake poses at Eddie Peake: The Forever Loop at the Barbican Art Gallery on October 8, 2015 in London, England. Courtesy of Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Barbican Art Gallery.

But days ahead of his inaugural show on Wooster Street is a special, three-night performance program featuring up-and-coming British artist Eddie Peake, who made headlines last year for his ambitious performance titled The Forever Loop, which involved naked performers roller-skating in skimpy onesies across the Barbican Gallery’s floor in London.

“We attach semiotic register to the naked body which to me is total madness,” he told the Guardian. “Of all things in the world surely the body is the one thing which doesn’t have inherent meaning.”

According to a statement from the gallery, Deitch was inspired to invite Peake to inaugurate his return after viewing ENDYMION, the artist’s performance piece for Performa 13, which took place at the Wooster Street gallery in November 2013, courtesy of the Swiss Institute.

Over the course of three nights this September, Peake will employ his group of nude performers, some of whom will be painted in gold and moving around to music.

Jeffrey Deitch Wooster Street

18 Wooster Street. Courtesy of Google Maps.

Deitch’s gallery anticipates the show to be popular, so those interested in catching the a viewing are invited to RSVP.

Performances of Eddie Peake’s “Head” will be held at 7:00 p.m. from September 8 through September 10.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics