Agosto Machado
Condo – Hosting Gordon Robichaux
exhibition view
Studio M, London
2026
Maureen Paley is pleased to host Gordon Robichaux for Condo London 2026 with an exhibition of recent work by Agosto Machado at Studio M. For his London debut he will present a group of his shrines and altars alongside related ephemera and works by Sheyla Baykal, Caroline Goe, Peter Hujar, and Jack Smith.
Agosto Machado
Marsha (Altar)
mixed media installation with costume jewelry, pins, and textile; metal, plastic, paper, and glass objects; artist’s teeth, keys, Chinese tassels, feathers, matchbook, handmade feather butterfly, Supreme ladybug stickers, plastic beads, fabric flowers, plastic Buddha, crystal, Chinese joss paper, shell, wishbone, Fai Chun decorations, tooth; and original artwork by Rick Shupper
181.61 x 46.99 x 30.48 cm – 71 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 12 in
2025
Agosto Machado
Jack (Altar)
mixed media installation including Jack Smith's objects and personal effects, paper lobster prop made by Smith, costume jewelry and peals, pin-back button, marble, toys, glitter, and textile; metal, plastic, glass, paper, and found objects; The Secret of Rented Island by Jack Smith poster (1976), U.S. quarters, dried flower, tinsel, shell, Capexio Tele Tone Tap shoe pieces, knife, Marlboro cigarette butt, Chinese joss paper, false eyelash, metal Mexican skeleton, paper garlands; original artwork by Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt
199.39 x 541.96 x 34.29 cm – 78 1/2 x 213 3/8 x 13 1/2 in
2025
Agosto Machado is a Chinese-Spanish-Filipino-American performance artist, activist, archivist, muse, caretaker, and friend to countless celebrated and underground visual and performing artists. He has been a vital participant and witness to cultural and creative life in New York since the early sixties, from art, theater, performance, and film to social and political counterculture and the dawn of the gay liberation movement. As part of a cohort of queer revolutionaries, including Marsha P. Johnson, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, and Sylvia Rivera, Machado participated in the Stonewall Rebellion.
Agosto Machado
Jack Smith’s Lounge Set
two-piece set (silk shirt and shorts made in Korea, size large), wood hanger
142.88 x 59.05 x 10.16 cm – 56 1/4 x 23 1/4 x 4 in
2026
“In 1973, I travelled with La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, founded by Ellen Stewart, to the Holland Festival (now called the Amsterdam International Festival). I had come into experimental theatre through my friendships with downtown New York figures like Jackie Curtis and Jack Smith, and La MaMa had become a refuge for me. After our performances, the company took a break. Some went on to Paris, I stayed in England for three weeks. I made London my base and took trips out to Cambridge, Hampton Court Palace, and Stonehenge, moving through the country mostly by the Underground and regional trains.
Peter Hujar
Ethyl Eichelberger and Agosto Machado, "Ruth Ruth"
vintage gelatin silver print
overall: 35.56x 27.94 cm – 14 x 11 in
Image: 33.02 x 21.59 cm – 13 x 8.5 in
1984
Ethyl Eichelberger
Untitled (Mechanical paste-up)
gelatin silver print, pen, tape on paper
26.67 x 21.59 cm – 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in
1981
Sheyla Baykal
Untitled (Peter Hujar in drag)
vintage silver print
25.40 x 20.32 cm – 10 x 8 in
1981
Stonehenge at that time, was completely open. There were no barriers, no guards keeping people at a distance. You could climb the stones, children ran and played among them, and people picked up small fragments as souvenirs. For me though, it felt like a pilgrimage. Standing there, touching those ancient stones, I felt a sense of spiritual reflection, something deeply personal being in the presence of one of the great wonders of the world.
Caroline Goe
Untitled
acrylic on found wood panel
22.9 x 35.9 x 0.6 cm – 9 x 14 1/8 x 1/4 in
c. 1980s
Caroline Goe
Untitled
acrylic on found wood panel
15.24 x 14.61 x 1.27 cm – 6 x 5 3/4 x 1/2 in
c. 1980s
As I moved through London and beyond, I was also watching the cultural shifts post Stonewall. Queer visibility was becoming more present in public life. Fashion and popular music were loosening the rules, opening up space for fluid gender and sexual identities. There was a feeling in the air, a new freedom, and traveling around London during that time, I felt myself very much a part of it.” – Agosto Machado, 2025.
Jack Smith
Untitled (Mario Montez)
c-print with Sharpie
print: 20.32 x 25.40 cm – 8 x 10 in
frame: 20.96 x 26.04 x 2.54 cm – 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 1 in
c. 1970s
Machado has presented two solo exhibitions at Gordon Robichaux in New York (2025 and 2022). His shrine and altar sculptures are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College in New York.
Agosto Machado will be included in the 82nd edition of The Whitney Biennial opening 8 March 2026 at The Whitney Museum of American Art.