From February 26 to April 4, 2026, RYAN LEE presents
Lottery, an exhibition of photographs and a video installation by Martine Gutierrez that pushes her ongoing inquiry into authorship, identity, and spectacle into volatile new terrain. Known for constructing elaborate self-portraits in which she performs every role—from model to director to brand—Gutierrez here dismantles her own command of the image, placing herself at the mercy of chance and the crowd.
The project originated as a live performance at Paris Photo, staged at the Grand Palais on November 15, 2025. Drawing inspiration from the radical gestures of 1970s feminist performance art, Gutierrez transformed the photo shoot into a participatory theater of power. Audience members holding randomly selected numbers were invited to direct her portrait sessions. Each “winner” assumed total authority: pose, expression, framing, implication. Gutierrez complied without negotiation, exposing the mechanics of control that often remain invisible in both art production and everyday image culture.
The event was halted after sixty minutes out of concern for the artist’s safety, a decision that underscored the work’s central tension. What begins as playful delegation quickly reveals the fragility of consent and the thin line between collaboration and coercion. In relinquishing authorship, Gutierrez tests the limits of spectatorship—who looks, who commands, and who bears the consequences of representation. The resulting 755 photographs form an archive of unpredictable desire and projection.
From this mass of imagery, Gutierrez selected sixteen works for the exhibition, reframing them within the controlled space of the gallery. The accompanying video installation reconstructs a fleeting, restricted environment, serving as both prologue and counterpoint to the photographs. Together, they examine how systems of chance mirror broader structures of power. In
Lottery, Gutierrez wagers her own image to reveal how easily authority shifts hands—and how urgently it must be questioned.
Image:
Martine Gutierrez
Lottery, image 635, “Can you run,” from The Lottery, 2026 © Martine Gutierrez, Courtesy of the Monroe Gallery of Photography