New York/New Wave facts for kids
New York/New Wave was an exhibition curated by Diego Cortez in 1981. Held at the Long Island City gallery P.S.1, it documented the crossover between the downtown art and music scenes. The show featured a coalition of No Wave musicians, painters, graffiti artists, poets, and photographers.
History
The New Wave, underground art and post-punk scene of lower Manhattan reflected the pulse of the late 1970s. It was a symbiosis of music and the visual arts. By the early 1980s, the interest in this avant-garde movement had transitioned from the streets into the art galleries of downtown New York. In June 1980, The Times Square Show, held in an abandoned multi-story massage parlor on 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, set precedent at "the first radical art show of the eighties."
Diego Cortez, co-founder the Mudd Club, a venue for underground music and counterculture events, united the downtown scene for a group exhibition titled New York/New Wave. The show held at P.S.1 in Long Island City, Queens from February 15 to April 5, 1981.
The show featured over 100 participants, including Ray Johnson, Lawrence Weiner, William S. Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000, Kenny Scharf, Stephen Sprouse, Christopher Makos, Maripol, Marcus Leatherdale, William Coupon, Bob Gruen, and Kate Simon. The walls were covered with works of different media hung side by side.
The show was a huge success and it opened up the New York art scene to the then 20-year-old Basquiat, who participated under the alias of his graffiti tag SAMO.
