Not all art ephemera is of equal value — most simply record art events, and provide a small taste of the art that’s being promoted. Sometimes though an ephemera item surpasses limited expectations and presents content of more profound and enduring interest. The items that have been selected for this week’s newsletter all fit into that category: each one highlights a still relevant thought-provoking subject related to art, art world politics, and life.
Gallery 98 now has over 7,500 art ephemera items posted. There is definitely something for every art lover. You can search by artist, gallery, media and theme.
Setting the Record Straight: Where is LA 2?
Card size: 5 x 7 inches
Available
This announcement card created by Clayton Patterson transforms an exhibition of new works by LA2 (aka LA II and LA Rock) into a public campaign designed to establish LA2 as an important independent artist by reminding people of his too-often overlooked role as an early Keith Haring collaborator.
J.M. Basquiat Through the Eyes of Julian Schnabel
From a lot of five photographs
Photo size: 8 x 10 inches each
Artist Julian Schnabel’s bio-pic about Jean-Michel Basquiat, created for a mass audience, romanticized the life of a rival artist and, at the same time, diminished the full importance of his art. These publicity photos show actor Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat, David Bowie as Andy Warhol, as well as Schnabel’s own take on SAMO graffiti.
What Happened to the East Village Art Movement?
Bottom: East Village USA, cover by Lee Quinones, New Museum, 6-page brochure, 2004.
Card size: 5 x 7 inches. Available
Brochure size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Available
The East Village art movement dominated the art press in the early 1980s, but quickly faded away by the end of the decade. Twenty years later the New Museum mounted a large retrospective that revealed both the abundance of major artists associated with the movement, and the complexity of an art phenomenon that, in retrospect, was much more than a single style.
Political Commentary as Fine Art
1992 card size: 5 x 7 inches. Available
1994 card size: 5 x 7 inches. Available
Many artists in the 1980s and 90s were interested in addressing current events and issues, but only Sue Coe chose political commentary as the central focus of her art. The strength of her work is due in part to an astute choice of topics: the Senate confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice, and the courage of doctors confronting the AIDS epidemic.
An Artist Creates a Machine That Produces Human Excrement
Wim Delvoye, Cloaca, New Museum of Contemporary Art, folded guide and press release, 2002
Guide size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Press release size: 8.5 x 11 inches
Wim Delvoye’s uniquely original room-sized kinetic sculpture simulating the human digestive system, provides a humorous commentary on the increasingly mechanized world where machines are replacing more and more human functions.
