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There was a line down the block.
Juliano-Villani, a head shorter than most, entered with I need a fuckin drink!
in her Newport 100s New Jersey growl.Matt Dillonfollowed, arm in arm with her mom.
They were showing the work of 82-year-old sculptor Donna Dennis.
Juliano-Villani was behind the bar-slash-desk, handing out shots of Evan Williams whiskey.
Either its cool or it sucks.
Everybody knows her; many people worry about her; some people just find her annoying.
Shes both a throwback and maybe a way forward.
My paintings are like a car crash, she told me.
Comebacks are not easy in the Darwinian art world, but Juliano-Villani has become an expert in rehab.
We find these people because we have really good taste, she told me.
Shes always all in, ready to lose everything.
She describes their relationship as likePinky and the Brain; Grant is, I think, the Brain.
It was out of control.
I was like,Hes fucked up just like me.
We should fly the whole village to the opening, she said.
If we dont tell anyone and Roberta walks in thinking Jamian painted them, is that a disaster?
Phillips asked, referring to the New YorkTimes longtime art critic Roberta Smith.
Its about speed, Grant countered.
If Jamian is painting for months, it wouldnt be the same.
The theme was copying, so she decided to make a knockoff version of one of her own paintings.
Getting it fabricated in China made sense; she could avoid shipping and customs charges.
It was 3 p.m., and Juliano-Villani swigged some whiskey and lit a cigarette.
The point is it lets me paint more.
Boots!Bootsis her signal with Grant to move on to another topic.
The whole conversation was going on too long.
In the end, Phillips convinced her not to fly in the artisans for the opening.
Juliano-Villani got her first art-world job in 2011.
I went there and lied to him about being able to paint, she said.
She didnt know how to paint, said the artist Ajay Kurian, a friend of Juliano-Villanis.
But I saw her learn.
She learned art history.
She kept getting better and better, and nothing was beneath her.
She put in the work, Smith told me.
I know, because she would play Weezer on repeat in the alley until dawn.
Tsou persuaded her to sign by sending her a case of Starbucks Frappuccinos.
In one moment, there are only a few galleries that matter.
I was stunned by her ability to find imagery in the world and then manipulate it, adapt it.
I met Juliano-Villani soon after this show.
She told the children to make a list of things that arent allowed in art.
Like a toilet, she suggested.
Her point was simple: Go where they tell you not to.
We hit it off right away we both loved smoking weed, heavy drinking, bullshitting.
Juliano-Villani grew up in suburban New Jersey.
Her parents owned a silk-screening factory that made store signs and printed T-shirts for pop bands.
Her step-grandfather was a Newark judge, then later the citys mayor.
Her twin, Julianna, was the more conventional of the pair, content with Somerset Countys mall-and-lacrosse culture.
(Now she lives in Connecticut with four kids.)
Jamian was constantly rewiring objects around the house and sketching in a notebook.
I took her under my wing, Zarsky said.
It was just, like, a gut instinct in me.
I had to shepherd her because I believed there was greatness there.
Her parents successfully pushed for Rutgers instead, reminding Juliano-Villani that one day youll have to pay car insurance.
The early 2010s were a good time to be a young hyped-up artist.
And once people like Deitch noticed Juliano-Villani, others were eager to follow suit.
By 2013, she was making enough money to bring Grant onboard officially as her assistant.
She signed with the Milan-based Massimo De Carlo, who began handling her European sales.
Massimo moves work, and he loves Jamian, said the artist and former dealer Joel Mesler.
In 2021, De Carlo asked her to curate her own show in Milan.
Neither was convinced it would work out.
(We were like, Okay, Jamian.)
I paid for it.
It was only $5,000 a month.
By September 2021, the three had opened OFlahertys.
The gallery was an attempt to do something beyond my cheeseball paintings, she once said.
The plan was to sign a one-year lease and close it before it sucks.
And no one fucking goes to gallery shows anymore.
You cant do anything wrong.
OFlahertys shows were never about peddling the next big thing out of the M.F.A.
This one centered on a baby doll and a crib crashing through the wall.
Kim had installed part of the show, Zarsky recalled, and Jamian spent one night rearranging things.
Kim came in the next day and was not happy.
To salvage the situation, a security camera was installed to keep tabs on Juliano-Villanis antics.
The baby show needed a babysitter, she said.
Their second, a few months later, was called Getting Chippy With It.
The bags jumped around the floor, brushing against peoples ankles.
Zarsky said, The idea was to push it so far that it kind of negates its offensiveness.
Juliano-Villani booked strippers for the after-party.
Later, Dingle told this magazine, I despise the shit show at OFlahertys.
It is racist and misogynistic and embarrassing.
Juliano-Villani decided she wanted her third show to be with Bickerton, a Bali-based mixed-media artist she admired.
I just DMd him, asking to do a show at OFlahertys, she said.
And then we just kind of really clicked.
During this time, Ashley became Jamians mentor, Zarsky said.
They pushed forward anyway.
He arrived in New York in January 2022, and she made the opening a party.
Deitch came; so did Larry Gagosian.
When an artist dies, their work is worth more.
Larry showed up like he was bobbing for dead-artist apples, said Zarsky.
It was a big sale.
According to Zarsky, one piece went to Sylvester Stallone.
Bickerton died in November 2022, only ten months after the opening.
Gagosian subsequently announced he was handling Bickertons estate.
Juliano-Villani didnt like the idea.
This person had been living as a homeless person in Canada.
She had two Ph.D.s.
It just sounded so political and boring, Grant said.
We dont do politics, Juliano-Villani added.
She fired Zarsky and abandoned the idea.
They were just like, We hate performance art.
This show sucks, Zarsky said.
I cant do this anymore.
I cant stand you.
Id done so much for her, and she just treated me like garbage.
(Juliano-Villani said Zarsky quit.)
With Zarsky gone, Grant and Juliano-Villani regrouped.
I personally work better without Ruby, Grant said.
They were always bullying me, calling me an incel.
They received 1,128 pieces; Hayatgheybi jammed artworks into every available crevice, ceiling, and bathroom.
Juliano-Villani contributed $8,000 for a team of programmers to train a robotic monkey to do push-ups and pull-ups.
When the battery made it too heavy, they set it, kicking, in a litter box.
Jamian called it Shitty Six Flags, said Hayatgheybi.
The line stretched several blocks; inside, visitors got lost in the dark.
The police department showed up less than an hour after the opening and shut it down.
Juliano-Villani screamed at people to get out as they clapped and cheered her on.
The next day, Grant called me and told me theyd sold my piece.
Then he Venmod me $500.
She thought I was out of control, Juliano-Villani said.
She began talking to Levai, who had recently opened the Ranch in Montauk after parting ways with Marlborough.
There, she hosted an art show with her deceased hero, Mike Kelley.
The whole thing culminated in a whiskey-fueled egg hunt.
Whoever found the egg would win one of her Jitney paintings.
Dotted all around the yard were signs that Juliano-Villani had made: GOTTA FIND THAT EGG!
People were ravenous, said the art reporter Annie Armstrong.
He climbed Lindemanns fence and broke it, resulting in a protracted feud.
The child didnt want the painting, so the gallery bought it back from him.
Juliano-Villani and Levai got covered in bites.
Soon after The Patriot closed in September 2022, OFlahertys was kicked out of its Avenue C location.
And soon after that, Bickerton died.
The timing wasnt ideal.
She and Zarsky were spending time together again, and for months the trio were back to real-estate shopping.
She went full Kanye, he told me.
I was fighting her about these crazy-expensive spaces.
We were barely scraping by, and shes looking at $30K-a-month places.
I just needed a break, man.
I had a lesion on my back from sleeping on couches for a year.
They had the memorial at the new space; later, Gagosian would host a Bickerton solo show.
It was a seamless transition, said Zarsky.
That February, OFlahertys officially reopened with the Austrian art troupe Gelitin, whose performance included live rectum paintings.
(They clenched extra-long paintbrushes in their anuses.)
It was a success, but Juliano-Villani was burned out, Zarsky said.
We were working in the gallery by day, then at Jamians studio at night.
She had to make paintings to fund the gallery.
It was chaos, a grind seven days a week.
By the time the Gelitin show wrapped, Juliano-Villani was unraveling.
We were on fire, Zarsky recalled.
It was driving her crazy.
Juliano-Villani and Zarskys relationship fell apart again.
Theyd been partying hard.
Everything was blurring together, said Hayatgheybi.
Eventually, Juliano-Villani went home to New Jersey.
Her parents started looking into her finances and found them a mess.
I had to go to all these banks, her mother told me.
We had to close all the accounts.
People were taking money without her even knowing it, right?
Juliano-Villani had been spending a lot, too: She booked a trip for more than $10,000.
I called, I got the refund, but we were very concerned.
Her father stepped in to assess the financial wreckage.
Her dad called and said, Im getting rid of her apartment, her studio.
And youre fired, said Zarsky.
Hearing all of this from Virginia, Grant promptly flew back.
It was a mess, he said.
But thats kind of the charm, right?
Thats what makes it exciting, even when its exhausting.
In late April 2022, Juliano-Villani came back to the city.
She had gotten out of her studio, and apartment, but not the gallery.
For a few weeks, she drank less hard liquor.
Gagosian offered her the solo show they had been talking about for the better part of a year.
Which its a big fuckin deal, she told me later.
Gagosian, thats fucking huge.
Zarsky went to the opening.
I watched her do this Gagosian show and thought,Youve made it.
Its blue skies from here.But shes never satisfied, she said.
Shes always one breakdown away from the edge.
A crew of slick and angular Gagosian publicists and gallerists met me at the front desk, offering cappuccinos.
Lets smoke a cigarette, Juliano-Villani said, so we slipped outside.
People trickled in, trying to catch a final glimpse.
Before we went back in, she changed her mind about the tour entirely.
Lets do this next week, she said.
The following Wednesday, we came back without the public, just the two of us amid her work.
In front of the painting ofI SpyHenry Kissinger, she said, Im thinking cinematically.
They all exist as one painting.
But I hate having a style.
I have to make this shit to make the other shit.
I need this all to sell for OFlahertys to survive so the party can continue.
She sprawled out on the front desk in a power pose.
Its supply, but its demand too, motherfucker, she said to me.
A few nights later, I rolled up on Grant and Juliano-Villani at the gallery.
They were riffing on ideas for their next act.
$250,000 has to go into my taxes.
And now Im stuck in a ten-year lease with this fucking place.
Their ideas havent been panning out either.
We were gonna do a show with Kanye, but hes doing porno now, Juliano-Villani said.
They went one for one on everything: cig-cig, Corona-Corona, shot for shot.
We need to make money, so lets sell weed.
It got late, and wed smoked a half-ounce; I had to go to sleep.
You gotta come help me!
I sprinted down Avenue A. I grabbed the gate and yanked it open; we went inside and sat down.
Grant, MIA, FaceTimed us from a hammock in Mexico, his first vacation in years.
He was holed up with his mother and sister trying to detox from the madness of back-to-back shows.
Juliano-Villani was still running on fumes wired on Adderall, nicotine, and weed.
Her landlord wanted her out of her apartment because he found out about her dog, Tim.
Speaking of Tim: Hes a genius, she said.
Hes on the cover ofArtforumthis month.
Anyway: Fuck my apartment I just need to pay Billy!
she said, passing me the pin, eyes full of mischief.
I made myself sneeze, and before I even recovered, she shouted, Roll another joint!
Well figure it out!
Its always like this manic, stoned, full throttle, no brakes.
Kembra Pfahler, the infamous performance artist, showed up looking like an alien-surfer goddess.
Juliano-Villani was still worrying out loud about not making enough to pay the bills.
You cant judge yourself by your financial success, Pfahler said, but Juliano-Villani wasnt buying it.
How do we keep this going?
Ive got to make money somehow, she snapped back.
This is the next show, she declared, as though she had just solved the problem.
Juliano-Villanis teeth hurt; they were coming loose.
Her diet was a mess, and she emptied her bank account trying to order us Burger King.
The next idea was the only thing keeping her upright.
Fuck this, she said, lighting another joint.
This gallery is my art too, and once its about money, its not about art anymore.
Its all spitballing with Juliano-Villanis brain in overdrive as she tests out new material.
I asked her about the dispensary idea, and she barely remembered what I was talking about.
A few weeks later, the landlord let Juliano-Villani out of her lease on the UCB space.
She had to scramble to close shop.
Probably full of asbestos, she said.
Enter at your own risk.
Im willing to die for this shit, motherfuckers.
We walked down Avenue A, passing the first OFlahertys.
Spent almost six figures just storing Donna Denniss installation, she said.
Billy threw out his back disassembling it.
We turned the corner on Stanton and found Grant on a sidewalk bench drinking Coronas.
Juliano-Villani rattled off her upcoming shows: Italy, London, and Gagosian wants something in Paris.
Havent even started the work.
Its all a mess.
Probably need a cabin boy, she said, thinking out loud.
Gotta find someone wholl live on the boat for free just to keep an eye on it.
Feels great, he said, lighting up a Newport.
I got a bed.
First one in years.
Ive never lived alone before.
That fell through, and a week later he was back to sleeping on Juliano-Villanis couch.
Like an old married couple, Juliano-Villani scolds Grant for night eating.
She complained that they are sexless retards, adding, I havent slept naked in two years.
This time, I found them outside Sugared + Bronzed near Union Square.
Let the tanner sizzle, she reminded him.
Juliano-Villani pulled out an earthquake detector, which she had bought for $90 on Amazon.
Her eyes lit up as it flashed purple, green, yellow.
Barney was documenting Katz painting.
The problem: Once again, there wasnt a space for the exhibit.
And for the first time in years, they didnt have one.
So they end up, like, having to find the new space and save the show.
And that ended up being, like, the story of that October, said Levai.
And who knows whats going to be the story of January, right?
Thats kind of the fun of it.
I never rested on my laurels, and I never will, Juliano-Villani said.
Just because I did something great doesnt mean I cant do something better next.
Two days after Trump was elected, the show happened in OFlahertys new space on Allen Street.
Behind the bar of the former restaurant, flat screens flickered with Barneys video installation chronicling Katz at work.
In them, the 97-year-old artist mixes paint and teeters up a ladder to his canvases.
Gagosian surveyed the scene and shook hands with Barney.
Great work, he said, and slipped out.
The rest of us went out to the backyard.
Grant wore a sharp suit; he seemed content.
I asked Juliano-Villani if she wanted to hit the joint, but she declined.
Ive gotta be professional, she said.
She glanced at the security guards standing at attention in various corners, wearing earpieces.
Later, Klaus Biesenbach would show up.
So would Mel Ottenberg.
By the way, you might smoke in here, she said.
Trust me, things are about to get crazy here.
Juliano-Villani turned to Grant.
How many years did we lose putting this on, Billy?
she asked him, referring to the black mold they cleared out of the place.
At least a few, Grant said.
But I like it here.
In the end, the work gets all the glory.
The bitch is just the plan, and mostly gets all the blame.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly credited a photo by Gavin Brown.
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