55405 Ca Object Representation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
108 An East Village Review, July/August 1987. Issue #7, p. 7. Published and edited by Janet Gillespie, Patty Harris, and Calvin Reid. The three editors resided at 108 Bowery from 1981-87, their address inspiring the name of the journal. Courtesy the editors EAST VILLAGE GALLERIES 1987 Published by When artists move into a neighborhood, Painters weren’t the only artists who and the Talking Heads, all Lower East no matter how dilapidated, they benefitted from this community; Side residents, took advantage of the transform it into a vibrant, safer sculptors, photographers, writers, and neighborhood’s permissiveness and community. New York is full of musicians also flocked to the Bowery. creative energy to launch a revolution. successful examples such as Soho, Some, like sculptor Doris Licht, took With the rise of graffiti in the 1980s, newmuseum.org Chelsea, the Bowery, and Williamsburg. advantage of the Lower East Side’s the Bowery’s walls were bent to Editor: Ethan Swan Not only does artistic vitality attract lawlessness, installing an illegal kiln another use as Jean-Michael Basquiat, Designed by: Thomas Rennie Printed by Cosmos Communication, NYC commercial interests but art has the in her backyard. Others, like Sandy Fab Five Freddy, and Keith Haring all Cover: Adam Purple, The Garden of Eden, 1975-1986. potential to cut across barriers and Gellis, took inspiration from the roamed the neighborhood. Earthwork. Forsyth and Stanton. Photo: Harvey Wang, to bridge dislocations. Following the neighborhood’s manufacturing district, December 30, 1978. Second World War, the first artists that collecting malformed bottles and In recent years, the Bowery has Back Page: Bowery and Delancey Street, 2010. came to the Bowery were painters, plastic scraps from the endless heaps of remained a site of creative activity. The Photo: Thomas Rennie drawn by the inexpensive, large spaces garbage. Artists built meeting spaces in physical space that once supported so and light. Abstract Expressionists were their lofts, or transformed neighborhood much painting has, in many cases, © 2010 New Museum of Contemporary Art especially fond of downtown living, fixtures into creative hubs. evolved into a state of mind that informs All rights reserved. No part of this as the scale of their paintings thrived artistic practices from poetry to new publication may be reproduced, stored in 4000 square foot lofts. In 1957, the At the north end of the Bowery, Amiri media art. New galleries and non-profit in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic painter John Opper returned to New Baraka and Hettie Jones co-edited the venues provide locations for dialogue mechanical, photocopying, recording York after five years of teaching in literary journal Yugen from their loft and reflection, and zoning regulations or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. North Carolina and discovered a former at 27 Cooper Square, pulling their have insured that ample light can still The Bowery Artist Tribute is made possible by an YMCA building at 222 Bowery that contributors from the Lower East Side be found on the Bowery, nourishing endowment from Hermine and David Heller. would become his studio for nearly four community. One block away, The Five a new generation of painters. To decades. As his daughter, Jane Opper, Spot hosted live jazz, packing the acknowledge this continuum, The described in her 2008 Bowery Artist house with artists for performances by Bowery Artist Tribute was inaugurated Tribute interview, the building provided Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and by the New Museum in 2007, with the a precious resource for his practice: Billie Holiday. Moisha’s Luncheonette, opening of our home on the Bowery. “Working in the big space on the at Bowery and Grand, became an Through an interactive website, a Bowery gave him the ability to stretch unofficial meeting place for artists in the series of in-depth artist interviews, out the canvases and really explore neighborhood, with Sol LeWitt, Sylvia public programs, and publications, what he wanted to do,” she explained, Plimack-Mangold, Roy Lichtenstein the Bowery Artist Tribute continues to “which was work with color.” and others appearing almost daily for grow as we record more oral histories tomato soup and cheese sandwiches. and more information comes to light. Other painters followed, and over The interviews presented in this the next five years the artists Mark While the Bowery’s reputation for publication are excerpts from longer Rothko, Wynn Chamberlain, Michael alcoholism, homelessness, and poverty discussions, available on our website: Goldberg, and Angelo Ippolito all held strong throughout the 1970s, the boweryartisttribute.org. began working at 222 Bowery. By artist population in the neighborhood 1965, there were over one hundred quietly continued to grow. As the Pop We are indebted to Hermine and painters living along the Bowery, artists and Abstract Expressionists David Heller for funding the research, among them Cy Twombly, Robert departed, a new generation took their development, and presentation of this Indiana, Al Loving, and Elizabeth places. Building a much different archive, and for providing endowment Murray. The lure of cheap rent and relationship with the Bowery’s space funds for its future. We are also grateful vast lofts drew a steady stream of and sunlight, conceptual artists, to a number of individuals who have artists to the neighborhood, many performance artists, and filmmakers been instrumental in the research of whom occupied space illegally. began filling its lofts. Max Neuhaus and coordination of these efforts over While the lofts themselves remained envisioned his first sound installations the past four years, especially Eungie the primary attraction, with each new from his Bowery loft, while Archie Joo, Irving Sandler, Ethan Swan, NYU artist’s arrival a second draw emerged: Shepp developed a new, Afrocentric fellows Matthew Israel, Jovana Stokic, the growing artistic community of the vocabulary for jazz at Cooper Square. and Matthew Levy, Travis Chamberlain Bowery. As Opper himself recalled in The bebop of The Five Spot gave way and Becky Brown. Finally, we owe a 1968 interview with art historian to the avant-garde improvisation of the many thanks to the artists, relatives, Irving Sandler, it wasn’t the space that Tin Palace, the preeminent jazz club and friends who have shared their brought the artist to New York, it was the of the 1970s, and in the mid-1970s the studios, photographs, and memories culture: “I missed the companionship Bowery hosted the birth of American of the Bowery. of the artists,” he explained, “I missed punk rock and new wave at CBGB. the discussions.” The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director (1) Yuji Tomono in his studio at (2) Joe and Carole Bascetta’s wedding day, 1974 (3), (4) Interior of The Tin (5) CBGB, 315 Bowery, 1991. (6) Artist in Residence sign at 188 Bowery, 2010. (7) Keith Haring, subway (8) John Opper in his Bowery 151 Canal (at Bowery), 1971. Exterior of Pelican Footwear, 219 Bowery. Left Palace, a jazz club located at Photo: Clayton Patterson The Artist in Residence (AIR) sign was a New drawing, circa 1981. Taken at the Studio, 1965. Photo courtesy Photo courtesy Doris Licht to right: David Johansen, Cyrinda Foxe, Carole 325 Bowery from 1970–80. York City requirement for legal loft living. The Astor Place station, just north of Jane Opper Reidford (Bascetta), Joe Bascetta. Pelican Footwear Photos courtesy Paul Pines sign indicates that the building is occupied, with the Bowery. Keith Haring artwork was a custom shoe store founded by the Bascettas, residents on the 3rd floor. Photo: Thomas Rennie © Keith Haring Foundation with all design, fabrication, and sales occurring at their Bowery loft. Pelican’s clients included David Bowie and The New York Dolls, who featured their shoes on the cover of their debut LP. Courtesy Joe and Carole Bascetta. Photo: Bob Gruen © Bob Gruen / www.bobgruen.com (8) (4) (1) VOL. 2 (5) (3) (7) (2) (6) (1) Roddy Bogawa, I Was Born, (2) Roddy Bogawa’s 16mm (3) Roddy Bogawa, I Was Born, (4), (6) Interior of Roddy (5) Roddy Bogawa, Junk, 1999. But…, 2004. Still from16mm film bin in his studio, 2004 But…, 2004. Still from16mm Bogawa’s studio, 2004. Still from 16mm film, 85 min. film, 90 min. Objects left in Photo: Alex Yalakadis film, 90 min. Courtesy the artist Photo: Alex Yalakidis Courtesy the artist. tribute to Joey Ramone at CBGB after his death. Courtesy the artist (3) (1) PAGE 06 RODDY BOGAWA (4) GREAT JONES + LAFAYETTE STREET (1993–PRESENT) (2) New York filmmaker Roddy Bogawa (b. 1962) makes work known for its Excerpt from the investigation of history and culture via lyrical low-fi means and innovative Bowery Artist Tribute narrative structures. He has made three feature films and numerous shorts. He interview with Roddy Bogawa studied art and played in punk bands before turning to filmmaking, receiving January 18, 2008 his MFA degree from the University of California, San Diego where he made Video available at his first two short films. In 1991, he directed his first feature, the experimental boweryartisttribute.org narrative Some Divine Wind. A mixture of fictional and documentary material, this expressionistic film focused on the paradox of assimilation while trying to “I think there were these landscapes and able to walk and see these places that I framing a shot, where I was laying on there in silence for awhile…reading (6) hold on to one’s cultural perspective. The film was selected for the Sundance places that were either mythological or had studied in art school or things like the ground in front of CBGBs, and this note that this girl had written, and Film Festival, the Mannheim International Film Festival, the Asian American things that I could experience and tell that were very important and I think there was a note that a girl had written how deeply it affected me emotionally International Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the Fukuoka my friends about, and that was kind of an influence to a lot of my filmmaking that was just in blue and red crayon.