Three Signed Originals: Anthony Haden-Guest, Kiki Smith, Linus Coraggio

Gallery 98 is committed to preserving the cultural history of downtown New York from the 1970s to 90s. The three items below capture different aspects of this era, a time when creativity flowered in a forbidding wasteland, and when many young artists and performers were plucked from obscurity and suddenly achieved “overnight” success.

Anthony Haden-Guest

Although he is best known as a writer, Anthony Haden-Guest has been publishing cartoons since his college days. The astute observer of the New York social scene captures here that heady moment in the 1980s when many familiar faces from the clubs and bars suddenly became big stars and then, well… just disappeared from their usual haunts. Our newsletter Another Joke by Anthony Haden-Guest tells more about the history of this signed cartoon drawing.

Kiki Smith

This silkscreen on cloth spotlights Kiki Smith’s early connection to the artist group Collaborative Projects Inc. (COLAB), and the affiliated art space ABC No Rio. Smith created this limited-edition silkscreen to help raise money for the printing of the book ABC No Rio: The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery (1985). The phrase “Island of Negative Utopia,” conceived by artist Joseph Nechvatal, aptly expressed the creative renaissance then taking unfolding amidst the rubble and decay of downtown New York in the 1980s.

Linus Coraggio

This scrapbook page assembled by sculptor Linus Corregio is a rare record of the notorious Gas Station (aka 2B), whose forbidding junk-metal exterior was an unforgettable presence on the corner of Avenue B and East Second St. before it was demolished in 1996. Our newsletter Post-Apocalyptic East Village Landmark, The Gas Station includes a video that captures the last days of this legendary “Rivington School” masterpiece.