Edit deAk (curator), Dubbed in Glamour, Poster Design: Edit DeAk, Mike Glier; photograph by Walter Robinson, The Kitchen, Poster, 1980. 16.5 x 21.5 inches. — Available
In the late 1970s and early 80s, much of the creative action in downtown New York took place not in traditional art spaces, but in nightclubs. The Mudd Club — founded in 1978 by Steve Maas with the input of scene kingpins Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips — was for a short time the favorite hangout for artists and other young downtowners. Art writer Edit deAk was a regular at the Mudd Club, and Dubbed in Glamour, a three-night “extravaganza” of performances, music, film and slide shows, was her attempt to bring the creativity of the nightlife scene into a more mainstream art setting.
While the performance series that deAk curated promised to be fun and entertaining, the event’s real purpose was to explore the concept of glamour. As deAk wrote in the press release, “Glamour is used as Uniform. Glamour is seductive, a promotional entity. It designates the self, commodifies it, supplying the customers with the image as product.” Although deAk did not make a point of it, Dubbed in Glamour was an all-woman event.
Time has confirmed the importance of nightlife as a creative force in the 1980s. Most of the participants selected by deAk for Dubbed in Glamour have also stood the test of time. Drawing from Gallery 98’s extensive inventory of 1970s and 80s ephemera, we have spotlighted below some of these leading ladies.
Tina L’hotsky (1951 – 2008)
Tina L’hotsky, Crazy Spanish Girls Autograph Party, SOHO Zat Bookstore, Xerox Flyer, 1981. Size: 8.5 x 11 inches. — Available
The multi-talented Tina L’hotsky was an actress, writer, filmmaker and most successfully the creator of nightclub events like “Crazy Spanish Girls.” Known as the “Queen of the Mudd Club,” L’hotsky was featured on the cover of Details magazine as part of the feature “Fashionation: Mudd Club 1978; Club Houses 1988.”
See more Tina L’hotsky ephemera
Anya Phillips (1955 – 1981)
Anya Phillips in The Foreigner, Amos Poe (Director), Photograph by Fernando Natalici, 1977. Size: 5 x 7 inches. — Available
The dominatrix look of Anya Phillips had a major influence on downtown fashion. During her short life, she helped style Debbie Harry from Blondie, and was one of the founders of the Mudd Club. Phillips was also an actress in No Wave films, a writer for Punk Magazine, and the manager of No Wave music star James Chance.
Chi Chi Valenti
Chi Chi Valenti, Edit deAk, Projected Images by Francesco Clemente, Muscle Opera, Palladium, Card, 1986. Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches. — Available
Chi Chi Valenti started as the door person at the Mudd Club but is best known as a nightlife producer and performer who, in partnership with her husband DJ Johnny Dynell, still orchestrates club events. In 1986 Valenti collaborated with Edit deAk on Muscle Opera at the Palladium: “a majestic procession of flesh” set against the images by Francesco Clemente.
Anne Deon
Anne Deon (pictured), New Cinema, New Wave, New York, Edit deAk, Centre d’art Contemporain Genève (Switzerland), Xerox Flyer, c. 1980. Size: 8.5 x 11.5 inches. — Available
Back in the 1970s a woman playing the saxophone was a rarity. Anne Deon toured extensively with the Alan Vega band. Today she works primarily as a painter.
Cookie Mueller (1949 – 1989)
Cookie Mueller, Poets At The Public: A Girl’s Notes – The Anti-Memoirs of Cookie Mueller, Public Theater, Flyer, 1982. Size: 8.5 x 14 inches.
Cookie Mueller was an actress who appeared in many of John Waters’ early films. She was also a prolific writer who published numerous books, wrote for the East Village Eye, and was the art critic for Details. She is also remembered because of the many photographs that Nan Goldin took of her and then included in a photo portfolio she published after Mueller’s death from AIDS.
Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Brian and Nan in Bed, New York City, 1983, Fotofolio, Card, 2013. Size: 4.25 x 6 inches — Available
Photographer Nan Goldin is famous for her candid pictures of friends — all participants in the downtown scene. While her name is not featured on the Dubbed in Glamour poster, it is included on the invitation. At the Kitchen, Goldin continued to develop the slide show she first debuted at the Mudd Club. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was published in book form in 1986.
Patti Astor (1950 – 2024)
Patti Astor with Rene Ricard and Eric Mitchell (Director), Underground USA, Publicity Photo, 1980. Size: 8 x 9.75 inches. — Available
Patti Astor starred in numerous No Wave films like Eric Mitchell’s Underground USA, shot in part at the Mudd Club. As one of the leads in Charlie Ahearn’s film Wild Style, Astor was exposed to the emerging Hip Hop scene in the South Bronx. She would then move into art dealing, and as the co-founder of the Fun Gallery, Astor gave many graffiti artists their first exhibition.
Sha-Rock (Funk 4 + 1)
Sha-Rock of the Funky 4 + 1, Video from Dubbed In Glamour, courtesy The Kitchen, 1980
Sha-Rock was part of the pioneer hip-hop group Funky 4 + 1, and is credited as being one of the first female emcee rappers. For many downtown club-goers, the appearance of Funky 4 + 1 at Dubbed in Glamour marked the first time they were exposed to the new music of rap.
Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry on the set of Amos Poe’s The Foreigner, Fernando Natalici (Photographer), SIGNED by Natalici, Photograph, 1977. Size: 5 x 7 inches. — Available
As the lead singer of the rock group Blondie and a star in No Wave films by Amos Poe, Debbie Harry was already a downtown icon in 1980. She appeared via video at Dubbed in Glamour, introducing Sha-Rock and the Funky 4 + 1. Only a few months later, Harry was influential in arranging the group’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, one of the earliest examples of Hip Hop going mainstream.
See more Debbie Harry ephemera
Marcia Resnick
Marcia Resnick, “She developed slowly but learned how to stuff her bra so that both sides matched,” Re-Visions, One of a Set of 8-Postcards, 1980. Size: 4.25 x 6 inches — Available
Photographer Marcia Resnick was one of the first artists to find inspiration in the music and club scene. As a book artist she was already well known for DIY publications like Re-Visions where she expressed the anxieties of youth through staged photographs and words. Her portraits of downtown “Bad Boys” were published in magazines and used on record covers. Dubbed in Glamour featured a slide show of Resnick’s pictures.
See more Marcia Resnick ephemera
Lisa Rosen
Lisa Rosen, The Electric Lawnmower, Photo by Pierre et Gilles, Harlow Paris, Card, 1981. Size: 4.25 x 6 inches — Available
The stylish Rosen was an often-photographed Mudd Club regular before she moved to Europe where she became a model in France, and later an art restorer in Italy. Around the time of Dubbed in Glamour she shared a Soho loft with Edit deAk and others. She is sadly currently in mourning over the recent unexpected death of her husband, the painter and art writer Walter Robinson.
Bush Tetras
“Too Many Creeps” a song by this still active Post-Punk, No Wave band has become emblematic of New York in the 1980s. Consisting primarily of women (only the drummer was male), the group had formed only a few months prior to its appearance at Dubbed in Glamour. Guitarist Pat Place has also had an active career as an artist photographer.
Dubbed in Glamour Invitation
Edit deAk, Dubbed In Glamour, the Kitchen, Grand Finale Party at The Rock Lounge, Photograph by Walter Robinson, Folded Card, Press Release and Program Notes included, 1980. Size: 8.5 x 11 inches. — Available
