Andi Crist presents her first solo museum exhibition, “Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths,” at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, on view until January 11, 2026. The show explores the hidden labor behind art production through works like “How to Hang a Painting,” a cast-aluminum instructional piece, and includes preparatory sketches, a recreated “The Door,” and ceramic works such as “Good Idea/Bad Idea (trash can)” and “Target Practice.” Crist, who identifies as a creative, designer, fabricator, art handler, and comic, uses humor and self-deprecation to expose the messy realities of making art.
The exhibition matters because it challenges the polished facade of the art world, revealing the often-invisible drudgery, randomness, and luck involved in creation. By blurring the lines between artist, laborer, and comedian, Crist offers a critical yet playful commentary on the economies of art and the myth of effortless genius. This show resonates with broader conversations about the value of artistic labor and the institutional systems that both celebrate and obscure it.