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# An Absurdist Play About Art-Making at Hauser & Wirth
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-absurdist-play-about-art-making-at-hauser-wirth/
- Published: 2017-03-03T00:04:35.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:27:47.000Z
- Description: In Asher Hartman's play Mr. Akita, artist and performer Cliff Hengst discusses the nature of art with a silent Op art painting by Emily Joyce.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, Events, Hauser & Wirth, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/03/akita.jpg)

Cliff Hengst (photo by Ian Byers-Gamber, via hauserwirthschimmel.com)

Playwright Asher Hartman draws on a wide spectrum of theatrical forms, [from puppetry to dance to dramatic monologues](http://hyperallergic.com/168805/asher-hartman-and-the-puppets-of-revolution/), to create experimental, absurdist performances that keep their audiences on their toes, never sure what to expect next. His play [*Mr. Akita*](https://www.hauserwirthschimmel.com/events/mr-akita-a-performance-by-cliff-hengst-20170303?ref=hyperallergic.com) stars artist and performer Cliff Hengst — adept at channeling humor and pathos in equal measure — as a Borscht Belt–style comedian and washed-up painter, who discusses the nature of art with a silent Op art painting by Emily Joyce. Throughout this one-sided conversation, Hengst’s character is haunted by memories of his teacher, the titular Mr. Akita, a synthesis of Willem de Kooning and a dog. As words struggle to do justice to Hartman’s vision, it is definitely a work best experienced in person. [Tickets](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mr-akita-a-performance-by-cliff-hengst-tickets-32142914322?ref=hyperallergic.com) are $15, but note that the play is not suitable for children.

**When:** Friday, March 3, 8pm; Saturday, March 4, 8pm; Sunday, March 5, 3pm ([$15](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mr-akita-a-performance-by-cliff-hengst-tickets-32142914322?ref=hyperallergic.com))  
**Where:** Hauser & Wirth (901 East 3rd Street, Downtown, Los Angeles).

*More info* [*here*](https://www.hauserwirthschimmel.com/events/mr-akita-a-performance-by-cliff-hengst-20170303?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*