“BETTIE VISITS CBGB” AND “JOHN WATERS CLOSET PORTRAIT” Benefit Auction for the WPA Ends Thursday, August 13
There is still time to bid on items in the Washington Project for the Arts’ Benefit Auction on Artsy, ending on Thursday, August 13th at 6:30 PM. Of special interest are two unusual forays into portraiture by artists who participated in the WPA’s infamous Punk Art Exhibition (1978).
This mini photo portfolio was featured in the Washington Project for the Arts’ “Punk Art Exhibition” in 1978 where it was singled out for praise by Washington Post art critic Paul Richards in his review of the exhibition. A short 90 second video about this collection of “Proto-Selfies” incorporates an excerpt from a 2015 feature radio program that celebrated the portfolio as a “Super-Book.”
This “Closet Portrait” is a prime work by pioneering performance artist Neke Carson, who is associated with both Fluxus Art and Conceptual Art. A Carson retrospective exhibition in 2019 was favorably reviewed in both Artforum and Art In America.
Back in the 1980s nightclubs were not just places to drink and cruise. They were also an important venue for the city’s cultural scene, a gathering spot where artists, musicians, designers, writers, performers and filmmakers exchanged ideas and networked during one of NYC’s most creative periods.
Neke Carson’s John Waters Closet Portrait must be one of the more unusual works in the Washington Project for the Arts’ Benefit Auction that is now open for online bidding at Artsy through August 13. Carson, a pioneering performance artist with links to Fluxus and Neo-Dada, is a true original who over his 50-year career has produced…
The benefit auction for the Washington Project for the Arts (already canceled twice because of Covid-19!!) will finally be open for online bidding at 6:30 pm today (Thursday July 30th) at Artsy. In celebration of the WPA’s 45th Anniversary, the auction features many of the artists who over the years exhibited at this important venue for contemporary art…
Artists in the 1980s had a lot to say but not necessarily with a work hanging on a wall. The downtown art space Franklin Furnace (founded by Martha Wilson in 1976) was one of the first galleries to recognize this reality with programming centered around performance art, artists books and other new formats.
For those who were part of the New York art world in the 1980s and attended the exhibitions and events featured on the art ephemera sold by Gallery 98, these mementos preserve not only art history but also personal memories.
What makes for a collectible gallery announcement card? The key quality is a powerful iconic image by a well-known artist that evokes the concerns of the particular time the exhibition took place.
Artist/documentarian Clayton Patterson’s recent article in the Village Sun adds a new perspective to some Keith Haring announcement cards in the collection of Gallery 98. Patterson has been a longtime advocate of artist Angel Ortiz (better known as LA2) who worked with Haring in the early 1980s but who is now increasingly excluded from the Haring story.
Some of the most desirable gallery announcement cards are those with a portrait of the featured artist. In this regard Franklin Furnaces’ Food for Thought card is an exceptional example of art ephemera because it displays two high profile artists, one on each side of the card.
Art ephemera – the advertising and promotional material created by galleries to publicize and sell art – is now a coveted collectible onto itself. Collecting ephemera is a way to own vintage objects connected to famous artists, and at the same time, learn more about the history of art as it actually…
Dramatically sited amidst the ruins of Charlotte Street in the South Bronx, John Fekner’s 1980 murals –DECAY and BROKEN PROMISES — are the best known work of this early street artist noted for his use of stencils for a political purpose.
For those nostalgic for that still memorable fin-de-siècle moment in downtown New York when art, nightlife, fashion, politics and decadence mingled and thrived, the more than 5,000 items of paper ephemera from the 1970s – 90s posted online at Gallery 98 might be the perfect remedy.
Details Magazine, founded by Annie Flanders in 1982, is best known for its fashion coverage. Starting with the very first issue the magazine was brimming with creatively designed ads from small downtown boutiques and newly launched clothing lines.