See all of Gallery 98’s exhibitions on our Exhibition page.
Gallery 98 dates back to 2013 and will soon be approaching its 10th anniversary. When we first began, an online gallery was still unusual so we thought it wise to promote ourselves not with emails but with actual postcards sent through the mail.
Here are some of the postcards advertising our first online exhibitions. Back then we featured artists from the 1970s and 80s who wanted to reach audiences outside the traditional artworld. Many have now become recognized pioneers in performance, independent film and street art.
These early exhibitions remain online and can be accessed by clicking on the links below. The text in the captions comes from the back of the cards. To see all of Gallery 98’s online exhibitions go directly to our Exhibition Page.
Neke Carson, The Strange World of Neke Carson: The Early Works, 1970–1985, card, Gallery 98, 2013.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
This online exhibition is devoted exclusively to Carson’s early art from 1970 to 1985. It is a show filled with unusual masterpieces: psychologically charged drawings that hint at impropriety; ephemera from guerrilla performances staged in Soho galleries without permission; the notorious rectal-realist paintings created with a paintbrush in his behind; and objects connected to Carson’s ventures like La Rocka Modeling Agency and La Rocka Nightclub that functioned as both performance art and real-life business.
Colette, On the Streets and in the Clubs, 1972–1985, card, Gallery 98, 2013.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
By the mid 1980s Colette was famous in New York and in Europe for performances in which she slept in store windows and art spaces, street paintings for which she was once arrested, and forays into fashion and music that worked equally well in boutiques, nightclubs, and museums
Christy Rupp, Christy Rupp: Rats and Other Early Works, 1979–1983, card, Gallery 98, 2015.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
In 1979 artist Christy Rupp made the news when a street poster she created with an image of a life-size rat was spotted near the site where a woman was attacked by a pack of rats during the contentious, three-week strike by NYC sanitation workers. Rupp’s art is about animal behavior and she placed her posters to identify locations where rats were claiming new territory as piles of garbage spread. This online exhibition featuring Rupp’s earliest works explores the conceptual roots of an artist now admired as both an early street artist and an EcoArt pioneer.
Collecting Colab: Ephemera, Photography, and Multiples, 1978–1985, card, Gallery 98, 2014.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
COLAB’s ever-changing nexus of thirty to sixty artists included many who later achieved individual fame, but the group’s real contribution was the philosophy of creative engagement it advanced through collective, do-it-yourself actions: mounting exhibitions like the Real Estate Show (1980) and Times Square Show (1980); and starting art spaces like Fashion Mode in the South Bronx (1978–1993) and ABC No Rio in the Lower East Side (1980–present).
Cara Pearlman, Cara Pearlman: Finger-Paint Portraits from Tin Pan Alley, 1981–82, card, Gallery 98, 2015.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
Cara Pearlman’s finger-paint portraits are from a time when a lack of opportunity in commercial galleries liberated artists to experiment and discover for themselves fresh reasons to make art. While it is accurate to view these portraits, executed with a painting method typically used by children, as part of the 1980s wave of neo-expressionism, Pearlman saw them primarily as a fun way to connect with the people in her life. Many are of Pearlman’s friends in the artist group Collaborative Projects Inc. (COLAB). Others were executed at Tin Pan Alley, a dive bar in the Times Square, where Pearlman got a job as a bartender.
Stefan Eins, Stefan Eins: The Enigma Behind 3 Mercer Street and Fashion Moda, 1970–80, card, Gallery 98, 2014.
Size: 5 x 7 inches.
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
Stefan Eins’ role as the founder of 3 Mercer Street Store (1972–79) and Fashion Moda (1978–1993) is a celebrated part of the story of art in the 1970s and 1980s. Much less known is Eins’ own art, which is intricately linked to the philosophy of the two art spaces he created. This online exhibition spotlights his early multiples and graphic design.
No Wave & Independent Film, 1976–1985, card, Gallery 98, 2015.
Size: 5 x 7 inches
A set of ten Gallery 98 postcards is available—$100
This online exhibition offers a mix of vintage ephemera and period photographs connect to the independent film scene that first emerged in downtown New York in the late 1970s. Of special import are stills by Fernando Natalici, the production photographer for two of Amos Poe’s pioneering No Wave films, Unmade Beds (1976) and The Foreigner (1977). Most of the photographs feature original ink inscriptions on the reverse side identifying the films and actors.
All of Gallery 98’s online exhibitions can be viewed on our Exhibition Page.
