As we move into this new year with everything in flux it is more important than ever to remember our past. Art ephemera can help keep what is behind us alive. How will people remember the artists and art events of the last century? These new additions to the Gallery 98 provide fodder for thought.
Ray Johnson’s History of Yoko Ono, c. 1975
Ray Johnson’s History of Yoko Ono, Double-Sided Handout on Thick Glossy Paper with Rubber Stamp and possibly hand-drawn, c. 1975.
Size: 8.25 x 7.75 inches.
The pioneering performance, collage and mail artist Ray Johnson (1927-95) was a ubiquitous presence in the 1970s always handing out drawings and photocopies with mysterious messages and events. No mere eccentric, Johnson’s impeccable avant-garde credentials included attending the legendary Black Mountain College in its heyday in the 1950s. Today Johnson’s idiosyncratic handouts are widely appreciated and collected. Ray Johnson’s performance, History of Yoko Ono and John, took place in February 1975 at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York.
C’est La Vie Rrose: Homage to Marcel Duchamp, 1977
Osterreichisches Filmmuseum, Invitation to screening of C’est La Vie Rrose: Homage to Marcel Duchamp by Hans-Christof Stenzel, With Hannah Wilke, John Cage, among others, Card, 1977.
Size: 4 x 5.75 inches.
In the 1960s and 70s, Dada artist Marcel Duchamp (1987-1968) enjoyed late-life celebrity and was a major influence on Pop, Fluxus and Conceptual artists. This card announcing a new Duchamp documentary features a still from the film with artist Hannah Wilke (1940-93) that recreates Julian Wasser’s famous photo of Duchamp at his 1963 retrospective at the Pasadena Museum playing chess with a nude Eve Babitz.
Tasting & Spitting with Lil Picard and Kathy Acker, 1975
3 Mercer Street, Lil Picard, Kathy Acker, Tasting & Spitting, Xerox Flyer, 1975.
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches.
A rare flyer announcing an intriguing performance with Lil Picard (1899-1994), an original participant in Berlin Dada events in the 1920s still active in New York, and poet Kathy Acker (1947-1997) whose sharp-tongued transgressive writing was echoed by her rebellious life style. 3 Mercer Street was a DIY storefront in pre-gentrified Soho run by Stefan Eins who later founded the famous art space Fashion Moda in the South Bronx.
Rene Ricard at One University Place c. 1980
One University Place, Rene Ricard, Eileen Myles, Frederick Iseman, Xerox Flyer, c. 1980.
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches.
Rene Ricard (1946-2014) was an actor in Warhol films, poet, art critic and painter. His 1981 Artforum essay “The Radiant Child” is widely credited with helping launch Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career. Ricard’s painted poems are now widely exhibited with one recently fetching upwards of $80,000 at auction. 1 University Place (also known as Chinese Chance and One U) was the last enterprise of Mickey Ruskin the founder of Max’s Kansas City. It is likely that Ricard is the creator of the portrait sketch on this c.1980 flyer.
Basquiat, Downtown ’81: The Show, 2001
Deitch Projects, Downtown ’81 The Show, Basquiat, Poster, 2001.
Size: 17.25 x 11.25 inches.
Today the film Downtown 81 (produced by Maripol, directed by Edo Bartoglio with a screenplay by Glenn O’Brien, and starring Jean-Michel Basquiat) is celebrated as a definitive record of the post-punk art and music scene that flourished in New York in the 1980s. Although the movie was filmed in the 1980s, it was only completed in 2000, and is rarely shown. This striking poster that is definitely worth framing, announces an exhibition about the film at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in 2001.
