Frieze and Q/ Present a New Video Commission by P. Staff

Frieze is pleased to announce a new video commission by artist P. Staff, premiering on Frieze.com on Monday 11 October. Pure Means (2021) is a two channel video, shot in a California desert wilderness during the summer of 2021. Through scenes of volatility, inebriation, dreaming and exhaustion, the video observes a frenzied sequence of alluring, cinematic intensity, made in collaboration with Los Angeles-based dancer and performer Gregory Barnett. 

To announce the work, Staff has created a prelude piece, comprising a montage of self-shot footage of fireworks witnessed in the LA area over recent months, accompanied by a dramatic soundtrack of religious organ music. This prelude teases ideas of spectacle, violent energy and observational distance that will be explored in depth across the full range of the commission. 

Pure Means is jointly commissioned by Frieze and Q/ (@qcualityd), an artistic platform founded in 2020 in response to global events, which commissions artists and encourages artists to reconsider existing value structures. 

P. Staff is an artist based in Los Angeles, USA and London, UK. Their notable solo presentations include Serpentine Galleries (2019) MOCA (2017) and Chisenhale Gallery (2015). They have been part of a number of significant group shows, such as ‘The Body Electric’, Walker Art Center, USA (2019); ‘Made in LA’, Hammer Museum (2018); ‘Trigger’, New Museum (2017); and ‘British Art Show 8‘, touring venues (2016). In 2021, their work has been on view at Canal 47 and the 13th Shanghai Biennale and formed part of the inaugural programme of LUMA Arles. Their work has been acquired for the permanent collections of MoMA, MOCA, the Julia Stoscheck Collection – and in 2019, was acquired from Commonwealth & Council in the Focus section of Frieze London for the collection of Tate Modern, via the Endeavor Tate Fund. 

The premiere of Pure Means coincides with Staff’s participation in a group exhibition presented by Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles at Frieze’s No.9 Cork Street in London.