Back in the Day…
By Rick Prol and Jan Lynn Sokota
Rick Prol, S.O.S. 1985, 32×52", silkscreen and litho, collection: MOMA NY
The "East Village ASU" ("EVASU") Group show celebrates the inaugural re-opening of the B-Side Gallery space, which opened it’s doors first in 1983 and closed them in 1987. Those years marked the heyday of the East Village art scene, a period when the gallery’s stable included John Defazio, Bruce and Rhonda Wall, Pierre Cuvelier, Caren Scarpulla and Rick Prol.
The idea for "EVASU" was in part a corrective and "pre-action" to The New Museum of Contemporary Art’s "East Village USA" ("EVUSA") show, curated by Dan Cameron, which opened the following day, on December 8th. A corrective in that some important artists and lesser known artists that were not included or poorly represented in the New Museum show are featured in "EVASU" such as Stefan Eins, Mark Kostabi, Rich Colicchio, Dragan Ilic, Louis Renzoni, Jim Radakovich, Keiko Bonk and Rick Prol. Of the 27 artists from the original East Village scene that are in "EVASU," 14 are in both EVASU and EVUSA. "Old School" artists in "EVASU" include Hope Sandrow, Keiko Bonk, David Wojnarowicz, Keith Haring, Martin Wong, Lori Taschler, among others. This show also includes 15 newer artists: Michael Ricardo Andreev, Jan Lynn Sokota, John Waters, Amy Hill, Cynthia Ruse, and Aaron Olshan.
In terms of a pre-action to the New Museum’s show, Prol and Sokota felt that the writing of the history of the East Village art scene should not fall to one curator or institution but to the community from which it originated, thus allowing additional perspectives and experiences to be heard and recorded as part of the historicized 1980s period.
"EVASU" contains a wide range of aesthetic sensibilities and media reflected in the various styles such as: Graffiti, Neo-Ex, Pop, Pop-Ex, Pop Realism, Appropriationism, Stencil, Photography, Political Works and Highly Personal Works. There is also strong sexual content and imagery emphasized in "EVASU" in contrast to the somewhat staid and sanitized "EVUSA." The B-Side Gallery show is also a return to the salon style of hanging work in a small venue, nearly frame to frame, that captures the spirit and ferment of the productive and raucous period of the 1980s East Village art scene. However, the show is as intimate as many of the pieces on view evoke a feeling that is lively and energetic.
All of the artists in "EVASU" have unique and distinctive viewpoints on the period, and here, a selection includes Hope Sandrow, Jim Radakovich, Lori Taschler, Louis Renzoni, Andrew Castrucci and Judy Glantzman to answer a question posed by Prol and Sokota regarding the historical significance of the 1980s East Village art scene. The question: "How do you best describe, in terms of memories, experience and feeling the energy and community of the 1980s East Village art scene and how do you think its legacy, in the annals of art history, would be best represented?"
