Toyo Tsuchiya, The Rivington School Garden photo portfolio containing a panoramic view of the sculpture and 12 digital photographs. Portfolio size: 23 ¾” x 10 ¾” x ¾”, photo size: 8 x 10 inches each. Only four of these portfolios were made.
Created over a two-year period in an abandoned lot on the Lower East Side, the Rivington School Sculpture Garden was a chaotic collection of metal scraps welded together and reaching up to 20 feet high. It was the work of multiple artists, but to call it a collaboration is too polite: anyone could add whatever they wanted — the crazier the better. This was real anarchist punk art using junk found on the street, rubble from buildings, and parts of abandoned cars. Authorities quickly labeled this post-apocalyptic jungle gym a public hazard, and by 1987 it was gone, demolished, and hauled away by the police.
The Japanese artist/photographer Toyo Tsuchiya was a key participant at No Se No, the artist bar and gallery that stood adjacent to the empty lot that would house the Rivington Sculpture Garden. As the sculpture grew, Toyo photographed every stage of its development creating an unmatched record of the topsy-turvy, one-of-a-kind structure. In 2017, Gallery 98 asked Toyo to collaborate on a photo portfolio to document this legendary lost monument. Each of the 12 photos in the portfolio has Toyo’s annotations about the sculpture’s history, and identifies some of the artists — Linus Coraggio, Ken Hiratsuka, Ray Kelly, Tovey Halleck — involved in its creation. Toyo Tsuchiya (1948 – 2017) passed away just days after the portfolio was completed.
Gallery 98 has recently produced a short video about the sculpture and Toyo’s portfolio. For a fuller picture of the activities of the Rivington School, visit Gallery 98’s online exhibition Linus Coraggio, Toyo Tsuchiya and the Rivington School, 1983 – 95.
A Forgotten Monument From The 1980s – Video (1min 43sec)
Rivington School Sculpture Garden. Video by Cole Berry-Miller. 1min 43sec
Toyo Tsuchiya – The Rivington School Sculpture Garden Portfolio
Portfolio containing a panoramic view and 12 photographs of the Rivington School sculpture garden signed and notated by Toyo Tsuchiya. Matboard and foamcore portfolio. Portfolio size: 23 ¾” x 10 ¾” x ¾”. Photo size: 8 x 10 inches each mounted on a backing board. Only four of these portfolios were made.
