Mr. and Mr. Smith?

Courtesy Western Exhibition, Chicago

At Next art fair, artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger sewed themselves together.

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With some 170 dealers, the April debut of the emerging art fair Next, in Chicago, drew gripes that there was too much to get through. Hometown gallery Western Exhibitions, however, found a sure way to stop traffic. For several days, artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger sewed themselves together, stitching their clothes with needle and thread from ankle to neck, then breaking the seam and starting anew. The bearded duo, who are real-life partners, call the performance, below, a “reflection on their relationship.” Did people get it? Yes and no, says Miller. “Some people thought we were playing the brothers on the Smith Brothers Cough Drops box.”

"Mr. and Mr. Smith?" originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's July 2008 Table of Contents.