A presentation of work by Ed Shostak/Rose Royale

An EVG reader just made me aware of this exhibit: Ed Shostak/Rose Royale: A Queer Perspective From Postminimalism to Social Practice, Selected Works: 1963 – 2020. 

Shostak, a longtime East Village resident, died on April 8, 2020, from complications due to COVID-19. He was 78. 

Per the reader: "He was an artist stemming from the Warhol Factory. We didn't know to what extent until after he died and his loft on Houston and Avenue A was chock-full of work and over 3,000 photos chronicling EV nightlife."

The exhibit, at the David Richard Gallery, 211 E. 121st St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, is only up through Friday. However, this is the first of several planned shows here to feature Shostak's work. 

Here's more via the gallery's site: 

It is unusual to uncover an artist of his pedigree for which so little is publicly known after establishing himself amidst the visual arts most notable institutions. Shostak cloistered himself in his downtown loft relentlessly working and opting for a less mainstream practice. This exhibition is the first look at many of his late works.

For those who are interested in reconsidering the parallel arcs of art history, examining and expanding the boundaries of the established canon of Post War art, Shostak's work will be a revelation. His work addressed so many of the known formal and conceptual concerns from that period, but through a queer lens. 

Eventually, he abandoned convention, favoring a more expansive view of the possibilities that an artist's practice could include by embracing a queer social practice and advocacy for the transgender community.

This presentation is not a retrospective of his artwork but is comprised of completed sculptural works, drawings, studies, performance, documentary images and films to illustrate and map two key aspects and threads of continuity throughout Ed Shostak's artistic career and life. 

While the imagery may have changed over the decades, the exhibition is organized to map these threads regardless of the subject matter, form or media. In fact, it becomes apparent that his personal life and art practice were inextricable — one and the same — and ultimately, the artist became both the subject and the art. 

Shostak had gone full circle from his childhood performances in the family living room to navigating the art world as a gay man and then to activism and politics to become not only his alter ego, but to be himself— transgender.

The gallery's hours: Wednesday-Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.  You can view some of the selected works and watch videos with curators Isaac Aden and David Eichholtz at this link.