The art world that Neke Carson encountered after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design and moving to New York in 1969, was unusually free and permissive. Fluxus was still flourishing, Conceptual Art was on the rise, and Andy Warhol was breaking new ground as a multimedia creator. It was an art world where originality was prized, and just about anything, in any media, could be considered art. Carson soon established himself as one of the scene’s most extreme artists, a creator of unusual works and performances that even now, fifty years later, stand out for their originality.
This Gallery 98 newsletter spotlights three of Carson’s best-known projects dating from 1973 -1981. To begin with, there was “Rectal Realism,” a new form of painting that reversed everything we normally connect with drawing from life. Carson’s “Lottery Drawings” evolved from a verbal pun into interactive performances that motivated audiences to look for trashed art with the hope of winning money. Finally, the LaRocka Modeling Agency, and the related LaRocka Nite Club, transformed real-life businesses into performance art with such deadpan seriousness that it is still difficult to sort out the various strands.
Learn more about Carson’s early work including his humor drawings, guerrilla performances and blood works, by visiting our 2015 online exhibition The Strange World of Neke Carson, 1970 – 85. Carson is still active, and his 2023 exhibition Evening Fabric in Morning Light at the Mitchell Algus Gallery was reviewed by all the major art magazines.
New Beauty: The LaRocka Modeling Agency, 1980
“During the late seventies and early eighties the phenomenon of punk and new-wave music not only brought an exciting sound to the world, but also created a new style and a different concept of beauty to go along with it. The look was no longer the Christie-Brinkley-girl-next-door type. The new look was edgy and dangerous…There was a beauty gap that I was more than willing to fill.” – Neke Carson
Neke Carson, Celebrate the birth of the new wave modeling agency LaRocka at Bond International Casino, cover of folded card, 1980. Size: 8.5 x 11 inches — Available
Jennifer Torres and Johnny Dynell, from the LaRocka Modeling Agency’s 12-Page Booking Catalog, 1980. Size: 8.5 x 10.5 inches — Available
Neke Carson, Open Call and Talent Hunt, LaRocka Modeling Agency & LaRocka Nite Club, Cover of Folded Card, c. 1980. Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches — Available
At first, Carson promoted LaRocka by staging fashion shows at various New York clubs; he then created the LaRocka Nite Club which became its principal showcase. “Open Call and Talent Hunt” doubled as a business event and entertaining nightclub art.
Neke Carson, “The Unconvention” of Alternative Appearances, LaRocka Nite Club, Card, 1981. Size: 8.5 x 11 inches — Available
Some events at LaRocka Nite Club focused not on the modeling agency, but more generally promoted the standards of beauty — bald heads, spiked hair and tattoos — that the agency represented.
Lottery Drawings: Win Cash, 1977, 1978, 1979
Carson’s Lottery Drawings began as a pun and spoofed the idea that art had value. He would make drawings that he ripped in half, crumpled up, and then discarded in various Soho galleries. A lottery drawing was held and if you had the missing half of the selected drawing you could win cash.
Neke Carson, You can win 100 in cash just by going to a gallery and looking around, Poster, 1977. Size: 15 x 18.5 inches – Available
“There is a forgotten drawing in the above picture. It is a lottery drawing (A 4 x 5 gold piece of paper with a drawing and a number on it). If you find one of these drawings, keep it. It could be worth one hundred dollars in cash… ” – Text from the poster
Neke Carson, Win one thousand dollars, Robert Freidus Gallery, Signed Flyer, 1979. Size: 8.5 x 11 inches – Available
While the first Lottery Drawing was a guerrilla event held without permission at the blue chip Sonnabend Gallery, later Drawings were held at the Robert Freidus Gallery, where Carson was the performance director. The half-drawings were now hidden in a single confined space, and the search time was limited. With the prize money increased to $1000, the last of these events had an intensity that far exceeded the earlier Drawings. In this last iteration the greed of the audience became a principal component of the performance.
Neke Carson, The Deadly Combination of Wit and Beauty, Robert Freidus Gallery, Invitation card for Lottery Drawings, 1979. Size: 4 x 6 inches – Available
Painting Without Hands: Rectal Realism, 1973
“Rectal Realism was born during the heyday of seventies conceptual and body art. At this time artists were using their bodies as their canvas or as a tool for their art. On the west coast Chris Burden was having himself shot in the arm for art. On the east coast Vito Acconci hid underneath a wooden structure at the Sonnabend Gallery moaning and putting little doll dresses on his penis.” – Neke Carson
Rectal Realism. Video by Cole Berry-Miller. 1min 49sec
