Alan Moore, Art Worker: Doing Time in the New York Artworld, published by the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest Press, 2022. Size: 6.5 x 9.5 Inches. 223-pages.
For five years Howl! Happening at 6 East 1st Street, NYC has been presenting exhibitions and events spotlighting the cultural history of downtown New York. This Saturday, May 28 from 7 to 9 pm, the gallery will be sponsoring a book signing and panel discussion in conjunction with the release of Alan W. Moore’s much anticipated memoir Art Worker: Doing Time in the New York Artworld. Joining Moore on the panel will be Marc H. Miller (of Gallery 98), Yasmin Ramirez (curator, writer, art historian), Leonard Abrams (founder of the East Village Eye), and Stephen Zacks (advocacy journalist and urbanist).
Moore’s diversified life as an art writer, artist, art-venue organizer, video distributor, and academic, has always intertwined with his political idealism. Art Worker features Moore’s remembrances of the artist organization COLAB, The Real Estate Show, The Times Square Show, ABC No Rio, Fashion Moda, Art-Rite magazine, the East Village Eye, cable television and much more.
Moore’s book Art Worker has a special connection to Gallery 98 and its founder Marc H. Miller. Back in the early 1970s Moore and Miller were briefly roommates at 98 Bowery, and in the mid-1980s they collaborated on the book ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower East Side. Much of the art ephemera available at Gallery 98 is connected to the downtown New York art-world that Alan and Marc continue to share.
Alan Moore, photograph by Tom Warren, 1983
Alan Moore, photograph by Tom Warren, card from the exhibition “Tom Warren: New Portraits,” Semaphore Gallery, 1983. Size: 4.25 x 6 Inches
Tom Warren’s Photo Studio project originated at ABC No Rio, a COLAB run art space located in the largely Hispanic Lower East Side. Warren’s goal was to provide locals with quality photo-portraits at a bargain price. The project was a success not only with neighborhood residents but with local artists as well, who also sat for portraits. Moore’s portrait was used on the announcement card for Warren’s exhibition at Semaphore gallery.
X Magazine, Vol. 2, assembled by the X Collective which included Alan Moore and other members of Colab, 1978
X Magazine, Vol. 2, assembled by the X Collective which included Alan Moore and other members of Colab, 1978. Size: 11.5 x 14 Inches. 60 Pages.
X Magazine was published by Collaborative Projects Inc, the artist group best known as COLAB. Although the magazine was unedited, and open to any COLAB member who wanted to contribute, much of this second volume of X reflected an interest in terrorism. Moore was a key collaborator along with Beth B, Scott B, Betsy Sussler Jimmy de Sana, Anya Phillips, Diego Cortez, Marcia Resnick and others.
Poster for the book ABC No Rio Dinero, edited by Alan Moore and Marc Miller, design by Keith Christensen, 1985
Poster for the book ABC No Rio Dinero, edited by Alan Moore and Marc Miller, design by Keith Christensen, 1985. Size: 14 x 18 Inches — Available
The Lower East Side art space ABC No Rio plays a big role in Alan Moore’s memoirs. The city gave the space to a group of COLAB artists after police evicted the artists from the building they illegally broke into to mount the Real Estate Show. Moore was one of the organizers of the Real Estate Show, and a key administrator at No Rio during its first years. In 1985 he collaborated with Marc Miller to publish a 195-page book about No Rio’s first five years. Amazingly, No Rio still exists forty years after its founding.
Alan Moore, Monday/Wednesday/Friday Video Club, Catalogue, c. 1990
Alan Moore, Monday/Wednesday/Friday Video Club, Catalogue, c. 1990. Size: 8 x 10 Inches. 8 Pages.
Many artists in the artist group COLAB were involved in film and video. Moore collaborated on the COLAB program Potato Wolf which aired live on cable television. For artists making low-budget films and videos, the big problem was distribution. To help solve this issue, Moore created the Monday Wednesday Friday Video Club, which sold and rented VHS tapes by downtown filmmakers. Nick Zedd, Eric Mitchell, Tina L’Hotsky and Glenn O’Brien are some of the artists featured in this MWF Video Club catalogue.
XFR STN (Transfer Station), MWF Video Club at the New Museum, 2013
XFR STN (Transfer Station), MWF Video Club at the New Museum, 2013. Detail from the newspaper handout produced on the occasion of the exhibition.
Moore’s involvement with film and video distribution made him aware of how rapidly technology changed. Older programs need to be converted from analogue to digital, and new methods had to be developed to preserve and archive this material. In 2013 The New Museum accepted Moore’s proposal to make the conversion of MWF videos a public event. Others could also submit videos for conversion. This living exhibition was named the Transfer Station or XFR STN. All the converted programs were then made available to the public at archives.org.
Click here to learn more about the Howl! book launch and panel discussion.
For those who cannot attend, Art Worker: Doing Time in the New York Artworld can be ordered directly from the publisher Journal of Aesthetics & Protest Press.
