Mandy allFIRE

Haul gallery is pleased to present Mandy allFIRE’s performance and exhibition Kiss my ass and my anus, 'cause it's finally famous.

Mandy allFIRE performs online and in front of an audience. On instagram, she is known as @thuglifethickbaby where she (at the time of writing this) has 266k followers. Her image under this handle is not one of a performance artist – if you didn’t know otherwise, you would only know Mandy allFIRE as an Instagram model best known for pictures of her ass. Thousands of people like and comment on her photos. Her stories feature photos and videos of herself on a bed, in the shower, wearing fan-purchased lingerie, or answering questions asked by her followers. Anyone can can send her lingerie from her Amazon wishlist, pay to text her on the messenger app Alua, or pay to watch her videos on OnlyFans.com.

Her performances with an audience tell a different story. By placing herself in extremely uncomfortable, polemic and vulnerable situations, her live performance work investigates the influence of media bias, popular culture, and social network technology on mainstream society. allFIRE explores the obsession and desperation to achieve the often misappropriated, oppression-based aspirations and exaggerated objectification of the female body within a male dominated, white privileged society.

For her performance at haul gallery, she will be blending these two personas. allFIRE has recruited a small selection of her online fans to participate in “a live facesitting event.” As specified on her Instagram story, this event is about smothering. She aims to sit on as many people as possible, for as long as possible. Each participant will be sat on until they can’t take it anymore. For the remainder of the exhibition, video of the performance will be on view and allFIRE’s worn underwear will be for sale.

Mandy allFIRE holds an MFA from Columbia University (Visual Arts 2013). In 2008 she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; and is a 2016 recipient of a Franklin Furnace Fund. Recent performances include Participant Inc (New York, NY); BAM Fisher (Brooklyn, NY); Abrons Art Center (New York, NY); Pioneer Works (New York, NY); Re: Art Show (New York, NY).