2020 SARAH MEYOHAS
Does art reflect life or does life reflect art? In Meyohas's photo-based Speculations series, art reflects itself in an infinite loop. Meyohas uses two-way mirrors and hidden cameras—but no Photoshopping or digital manipulation of any kind—to generate spellbinding mise en abymes. The endless, concentric repetition of mirrors within mirrors within mirrors gives the appearance of structural infinity—a proverbial stairway to heaven composed of endless Joseph Albers squares. Any object that the artist places between the mirrors is instantly transfigured, becoming "art" by dint of its infinite reduplication. Ordinary rose petals or sprigs of wildflowers become transcendental tunnels of color, cascading in full bloom toward eternity's vanishing point. Within their self-contained system, the flowers remain forever young, bursting with freshness and vitality.
The title, Speculations, is a play on the idea of "specular" or mirrored relations, as well as a reference to speculation in the art market. "Reflections are often used as a metaphor," Meyohas says, "because value is always created through exchange." For Meyohas, who studied Economics at the Wharton School before receiving her MFA from Yale, the mirrors represent the mutually supportive institutions of art galleries, collections, publications, and auction houses that increase the cultural and financial capital of the artworks that circulate within their closed networks. Meyohas is also the first artist to have created a fully realized financial instrument as a work of art: an art-backed currency called "Bitchcoin," which functions both as a tongue-in-cheek social commentary and as a legitimate investment vehicle and Bitcoin alternative. In the tradition of Duchamp, Meyohas's art exposes the "smoke and mirrors" of art world mystification, revealing how value is created and sustained. Knowing the tricks, however, does not diminish the magic, and her Speculations photographs are particularly sumptuous and enticing.