Christopher Gambino and Jonathan Leib: Who Shot Candy Warhol?
October 20 - November 27, 2024

Who Shot Candy Warhol? is an exhibition of new work by New York-based artists, Christopher Gambino and Jonathan Leib, about the archetype of the Blonde in culture and pop music, and how she relates to death, camp and capital.

When a star enters her Blonde era, it is understood as a signifier that what she’s about to do is iconic. She designates herself as other by eschewing typical markers of femininity and instead proposing new, subversive modes of presentation and performance. However, inherent to Blondeness is precarity-- Blonde only lasts as long as the wig stays glued, as long as the scalp can handle being bleached weekly. Blondeness is a cycle, and new Blondes emerge as soon as the previous' roots start coming in.

The exhibition’s title, Who Shot Candy Warhol?, is taken from a video interlude from Lady Gaga’s first world tour, The Fame Ball. In this interlude, she states to an unnamed man that “Pop ate [her] heart.” When asked if she feels empty without it, she responds “No, I feel free.” [1]. The beginning of Lady Gaga's career can be characterized by the recurring motif of the enactment and re-performance of her own death in order to preempt her own inevitable obsolescence. This is most notable in her performance of Paparazzi at the 2009 VMAs, where she hangs herself on stage to a chorus of flashing camera sounds [2]. In this performance, Gaga lays bare the material conditions of Blondeness, as well as affirming the spectator's obsession with her demise. She cements the image of the Blonde as an enduring cultural symbol. The Blonde is an object of erotic fascination and disgust, of ridicule and admiration, of fear and pity.

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[1] Lady Gaga - The Heart / Who Shot Candy Warhol (The Fame Ball Tour Intro), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM4B65F_UIE
[2] Lady Gaga Performs "Paparazzi" | 2009 VMAs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h6Vc9__kqM

Marcie breaks her neck falling down the stairs
Christopher Gambino, 2024
Chairs, stockings, resin, shoes
110 x 63 x 54 inches

Figure at the Beginning of Her Career with Drag Queen in an East Village Nightclub, Jonathan Leib, 2024
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
18 x 24 inches