Jeff Koons

Gallery 98 showcases selected issues of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) magazine from the 1990s, featuring cover designs and picture spreads created by artists Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, and Richard Prince.

At Gallery 98 our diverse inventory includes many DIY flyers from downtown art spaces in the 1970s and 80s, mostly hand-lettered and cheaply printed on black-and-white xerox machines. Commercial galleries, on the other hand, hired designers, and used color-offset printers to produce the cards and posters that promoted their exhibitions.

Art ephemera is primarily a by-product of advertising and promotion. At Gallery 98 our main focus is announcement cards and gallery posters but we also have an interest in the advertisements that galleries place in art magazines. It is all part of our long-term ambition to make the Gallery 98…

When a collection of art ephemera only includes items from American galleries it inevitably does not convey the full picture. During the final decades of the 20th century Europe was not only the birthplace of important artists (e.g., Christo, Marina Abramović, Anselm Kiefer) but it was also a key market for American artists. Gallery 98’s goal is to capture…

Selected issues of the German Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) magazine from the 1990s are today coveted collector items because of the publication’s radical decision to give famous artists editorial control in the design of the magazine’s cover, as well as lengthy picture spreads featuring whatever images they chose.

Opening an art gallery in the 1980s was easy. Rents were low and there was no shortage of talented artists looking for places to show. In hindsight, it’s surprising to see how many now historic exhibitions were held in small, raw spaces run by neophyte dealers on a shoestring budget. The art world was ready for new things. All it…