Attending openings every weekend in LA can begin to feel a little monotonous. The same hip circles, lots of 2D art, a glass of wine here, a few fake smiles there, rinse repeat. That is until one Saturday night when you find yourself innocently walking into Culver City gallery Roberts & Tilton only to be confronted with a three-person STABBING right in the middle of the room! Talk about throwing monotony out the window.

The stabbing I’m talking about is of course an exhibition by Daniel Joseph Martinez titled “IF YOU DRINK HEMLOCK, I SHALL DRINK IT WITH YOU or A BEAUTIFUL DEATH; player to player, pimp to pimp. (As performed by the inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the direction of the Marquis de Sade)” referencing Jacques-Louis David’s 1793 seminal portrait The Death of Marat. Either way it was startlingly realistic and enough to throw every opening attendee (including us) off their footing. Which made for a very fun evening of people-watching.

After walking around the piece a few times, saying hello and congratulations to Daniel we grabbed a drink from the delightfully informative assistant, took our seats on the adjacent bleachers (you heard me) and watched as initial reactions turned from what-the-fuck to curiosity to intrigued, all the while tinged with a bit of unease. Our favorite part was watching Daniel talk to friends like artist Tameka Norris, Kori Newkirk, Andrea Bowers, Alison O’Daniel and actress Lisa Edlestein while standing in front of the three fabricated doppelgangers. Every so often we’d catch a glimpse of the room at a different angle and have a hard time discerning fake from real person, you know—except for the knives and blood.  It was bizarre and surreal.  Some people chose to get up-close and personal, some wouldn’t go near the thing, others insisted on hashing out what on earth was happening. But without a doubt everyone was interacting with this exhibition. They were actually looking at and talking about the art, and that can’t be said for a lot of the other shows we saw that night… or ever.