Since last November, artist and University of Minnesota alum Jackie Fay has been putting deodorant on what will eventually become The Armpit gallery, a new and unique iteration of Como’s DIY spirit.
Deodorant, of course, meaning white paint.
Located in the dingy garage of famed house venue Como Backdoor, though unaffiliated with the venue, the space, which is currently still bare bones, is a testament to the DIY spirit and Fay’s unrelenting passion for art.
Since graduating last spring, Fay, who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, has found herself in a pattern familiar to many recently bestowed with an arts degree — working 25 hours a week at an exhausting retail job and making art in her closet while combating compounding health issues.
“I’m not concerned with exhibiting right now,” Fay said. “I’m just taking the time and space to focus on my craft and getting it to a unique and interesting state that I’m proud of.”
Primarily a painter, Fay graduated from people to landscapes to flowy, abstract, intuitively created dreamscapes.
“It’s what comes out of me, and then we think about it afterward,” she said.
Still, Fay said she wanted a larger space to be creative. With no luck yet finding a studio space, they turned to curation as an outlet, inspired by hole-in-the-wall galleries in Minneapolis such as Night Club, by artists Lee Noble and Emma Beatrez and Hair and Nails.
“I really admire businesses run by duct tape and a dream,” Fay said.
That’s when her friends at Como Backdoor hooked her up with their dilapidated garage last fall, and the rest is history.
Well, the history may not have started yet, but at least the doors have been scrubbed.
The doors do not open on their own, so Fay yanked the right door up high enough to enter when she showed me the space.
Leaves and dirt are still scattered across the floor, but at least they are not piled calf-high like Fay said they were in the fall.
Drywall has been put up and primed, but Fay confessed she was supposed to paint earlier that week but did not.
Its location in the middle of a neighborhood alley might not seem conducive to visitors, but proximity to Backdoor is likely to help, along with a sandwich sign Fay got from the University ReUse Program.
Still, Fay said this sort of liminal weirdness is what she’s aiming for.
“It’s right next to the mosh pit, but it’s still a little stinky and a little weird,” she said.
The Armpit’s inaugural show will open on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Titled “seething: malding,” it is an exploration of intense emotions and coping mechanisms, especially in response to the sins of society.
“It’s giving fancy cursive letters with hard drugs and sex and punk rock,” Fay said.
Fay said there’s also an undercurrent of rurality and the Middle America experience in the show, reminiscent of pro-life, sex shops and fireworks billboards that line the interstate through Wisconsin.
The 12 artists featured consist of Fay’s good friends who were easily reachable and strangers she approached who were cool with displaying art in a space without electricity or air conditioning.
“I did a lot of coordinating, a lot of talking and reaching out to artists while trying not to look like a scammer,” Fay laughed.
Fay said she’s particularly excited about University Bachelor of Fine Arts senior and fellow painter Jack Drummond being in the show.
She said Drummond embodies the DIY spirit she’s looking for with his paintings recreated from blurry, pixelated and deep-fried digital images.
While investing in The Armpit has been a roller coaster process for Fay, they said they’re not afraid of potential ephemerality.
“There was an Armpit Gallery in San Francisco that was only open for a few months,” she said. “I could just be creating the next one.”
Fay said their ultimate goal for The Armpit is to create a surreal experience for people to stumble upon.
“I love the feeling of stumbling in somewhere and being like, ‘What the f–ck is this place?’” she said.