Andreas Slominski’s special edition for Texte zur Kunst is a selection from his series “xyz erotic vol.” Pastel-colored insulation foam is littered with relief-like drawings: caricatures and dirty jokes, porn motifs that here pose as art; a perfect match, it would seem, of cheap material and cheap imagery. But the scrawled handwriting that graces this edition lays claim to the dignity of painting; and the polystyrene that serves as its base proves to be a far more resilient material than oil on canvas could ever be. This work can also be read as a painting’s homage to its nail, the element on which it hangs and by which it is committed to a life as flat object mounted to a wall.

In its double character, the work is “high” art and yet also very “low.” Richard Prince’s “Joke Paintings” are recalled but, pointedly, appear here devoid of male heroism; the underlying guy humor is presented as pathetic, even corny, a sad male fantasy that merely illustrates the widespread claims of the “end of men.” A painting as a smutty misfire, an attempt to communicate bound to fail, may this objet d'art warm a few hardened hearts over Christmas.