Galleria d’Arte Emilio Mazzoli, SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat), Card addressed to Edit DeAk by Diego Cortez with a drawing of a crown by Basquiat, May 1981
Edit DeAk was an art enthusiast who truly got involved. Art-Rite (1973-78), the low budget newsprint magazine that she founded and co-edited with Walter Robinson, was one entry into the art world. There was also her large Soho loft at 149 Wooster Street, a living/office/party/performance space with plenty of room for guests and art making. Edit was anything but shy and as critic, curator and cheerleader she forged relationships with leading artists and trend-setters that placed her at the heart of the action in the 1970s and 80s.
Ephemera from her archives capture this life in art. The posters, announcement cards, signed catalogues, and miscellaneous scraps of paper containing everything from doodles to aborted project proposals provide a telling picture. Gallery 98 is planning a full online exhibition of DeAk’s life as revealed through her art ephemera. For now we have isolated some intriguing items and posted them on a special Edit DeAk page.
These ephemera treasures include a proposed Art-Rite cover by Jack Smith; a handwritten poem by Rene Ricard, and an unrealized proposal by Diego Cortez expanding on his New York / New Wave exhibition at P.S. 1.
