Check out 2 classic bands in documentaries at Howl! Happening

Howl! Happening tomorrow evening is hosting free screenings of two rarely-seen films by Merrill Aldighieri... at 6 p.m., there's "Shox Lumania Mania," featuring live performances and interviews with the cult electronic band Shöx Lumania. 

Then at 7:40 ... there's "Illustre," a 33-minute film that documents the NYC debut of New Order in September 1980 at Hurrah on West 62nd Street.

   

Howl! Happening is at 6 E. First St. near the Bowery. More info here.

Saturday's parting shot

"Sissy" (this one) as seen in Flloyd's current show, "Dicks and Divas," at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. 

The exhibit is up through Oct. 22.

The gallery is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Last weekend for 'City of Kings' at Howl! Happening

Photo from November by Daniel Efram 

This is the last weekend to see "City of Kings: A History of New York City Graffiti" at Howl! Happening on First Street (6 E. First St. at the Bowery).

The ambitious and detailed two-part show was put together by Eric Felisbret, Mariah Fox and Al Diaz (pictured above). The First Street exhibit focuses on the chronological framing of the history of graffiti in NYC. 

Meanwhile at Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive, 250 Bowery near Stanton Street, you can check out canvases by graffiti artists such as Crime 79 and photographs by Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, David Gonzalez and others who helped document the scene over the years. This exhibit is up through Jan. 29.

Both Howl! spaces are open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Details here.

You can read Dan Efram's feature on the show for EVG at this link.

Howl! Happening explores the history of street art and graffiti with 'City of Kings'

Photos and story by Daniel Efram 

Howl! Happening is now showing "City of Kings: A History of New York City Graffiti," an ambitious and detailed two-part show put together by Eric Felisbret, Mariah Fox and Al Diaz (pictured above) that provides a timetable on the social, cultural and political news of the day about the rise of street art. 

As one of the first-generation pioneers of graffiti as art, Diaz is uniquely qualified to bring the story together. Together with Fox and Felisbret, the trio has stitched together a triumphant tour-de-force exhibition, one that they hope other institutions around the country would like to show. 

It takes work to assemble the original pioneers of graffiti in one room. And it takes a special group to bring together an essential and special show like this.

The "City of Kings" represents "the community and a collective creativity that would evolve into something huge," Diaz says. 

Though Diaz has contributed to an extensive collection of books on graffiti, this one was designed to set itself apart. The team believes that the inclusion of important historical events makes it unique.

"It's important to make clear what was going on in the world at the time," Diaz says. "Current events serve as an anchor." 

As graffiti is an American visual art form, it's imperative that a show and companion book like "New York City of Kings: A History of NYC Graffiti" exists. As time has passed, many first-generation graffiti pioneers have passed away. This show is helpful in describing its history respectfully, honoring as many of those who were there to make certain that this information can be passed along for generations to come. 

"To have Al Diaz do this is important; it gives credibility because the writers respect him. He was there," says self-described next-generation artist Will Power. "And that [the team] brought in the actual writers, 'the pioneers,' to be involved with it while they are still here is also important. He did this from the heart because it’s important. If anyone could pull this off, it's Al."

Diaz and Felisbret are quick to credit Fox, an associate professor at New Mexico Highlands University, as the mastermind behind the "A History of New York City Graffiti" book (Howl! Arts), available in limited edition at the show. 

"One of the goals of the show was to develop a graffiti curriculum," Fox says. "We want to educate people, illuminate how New York's expansive graffiti culture took root, and explain why it's so internationally influential."

"Al wanted a timeline, and he wanted to do an oral history," she continued. "Concurrently, we started working with Eric, and Eric is a really knowledgeable graffiti expert, and he came up with a core outline of important things to cover."

One of the show's essential components is the chronological timeline, expertly illuminated through the use of the NYC subway design elements, a nod to the idea that subway graffiti is its most pure form and to show historically where specific writers used to concentrate their work. But it's also an opportunity to include other milestones and terminology. 

There's a lot of deeply rooted street art information in the "City of Kings" exhibition, and the visual familiarity of the subway is a brilliant way to connect the story. Following their lead, one can follow the graphics of their most used subway line and see what important graffiti history occurred along its route.

This expansive show has two distinctly unique components, one for each of the two Howl Happening locations (6 E. First St. until Jan. 15) and the second at Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (250 Bowery until Jan. 29.

The First Street exhibit focuses on the chronological framing. At the same time, the 250 Bowery space is an art exhibition featuring canvases by graffiti artists such as Crime 79 and photographs by Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, David Gonzalez and others who helped document so much of the scene over the years. 

"City of Kings" also includes an array of special events, including...

Both Howl! spaces are open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Details here.

'Happy 35th Gay Anniversary' to Linda Simpson and My Comrade at Howl! Happening

Photos by Stacie Joy 

This summer, Howl! Happening is celebrating Linda Simpson's photographs and her groundbreaking magazine, My Comrade. 

Here's more about "My Comrade Magazine: Happy 35th Gay Anniversary" at the space, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery:

My Comrade magazine was founded by drag queen Linda Simpson in 1987 during the dark era of the AIDS crisis and served as a symbol of hope and frivolity to the East Village gay scene and beyond. Armed with a tongue-in-cheek "revolutionary" agenda, the magazine glorified heroic drag queens and sexy guys in a cut-and-paste mishmash of articles and photo spreads. Lesbians got their due when the flip side became Sister! The sporadic publishing schedule produced a total of 11 issues until 1994. It was revived in 2004 for two more. 

The exhibit features reproductions and enlargements of My Comrade's black-and-white pages. Notable contributors to the magazine included photographers Jack Pierson and David Armstrong, painter Stephen Tashjian a.k.a. Tabboo!, and drag stars RuPaul and Lady Bunny. The exhibit also features Simpson's color photos of the era from her acclaimed 2021 photo book, "The Drag Explosion," published by Domain. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy went to the opening last weekend, where she took these photos... including of Linda...

The First Street gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. "My Comrade Magazine: Happy 35th Gay Anniversary" will be up through July 17.

You can check out this feature at Dazed for more history.

'Low Fidelity' features the iconic photos from Bobby Grossman's downtown milieu

Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive on the Bowery has a new exhibit titled "Low Fidelity," a selection of Bobby Grossman's photographs of 1970s-1980s downtown icons. 

Some background via the Howl! website:

Grossman arrived in New York in 1976 after receiving a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he studied alongside friends Chris Frantz and David Byrne of Talking Heads. 

His first job was assisting Richard Bernstein, the artist responsible for the covers of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. At Bernstein’s studio in the legendary Chelsea Hotel, Grossman found himself at ground zero in the early days of punk and the downtown scene. 

Taking photographs of friends and newfound acquaintances — including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debbie Harry, the Ramones, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and the milieu around Andy Warhol's Factory — Grossman became a regular fixture at CBGB, the Mudd Club and other downtown haunts.

And a little trivia: His first photo credit was the cover shot for Talking Heads' 1977 single "Psycho Killer."

You can check out "Low Fidelity" through May 29 at Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive, 250 Bowery at Stanton. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free admission.

You can also read about the "Low Fidelity" book project here.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• A visit to Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive on the Bowery

A visit to Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive on the Bowery

Photos by Stacie Joy

In September, Howl Arts debuted a 7,000 square-foot facility at 250 Bowery. (Howl! Happening, which opened in 2015 at 6 E. First St., will remain in use as a gallery.) 

The new space goes by Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive, which "expands upon Howl! Happening's innovative exhibitions and public programs and focuses on the thriving multi-dimensional artistry and history of the East Village/Lower East Side." 

Earlier this fall, EVG contributor stopped by the space between Houston and Stanton for a look around... courtesy of Jane Friedman, Howl Art's founder and executive director ...

East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge was also on hand...

The space includes three exhibition galleries, a library as well as screening and reading rooms. It also serves as the headquarters for Howl Arts, which purchased the commercial space here in 2018.

Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can check out their website for a list of exhibitions and other info. 

Howl Arts debuts new exhibition space on the Bowery

Howl Arts is ready to debut a second space, a 7,000 square-foot facility at 250 Bowery between Houston and Stanton. (Howl! Happening, which opened in 2015 at 6 E. First St., will remain in use as a gallery.) 

The new space is going by Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (HA/HA), which "expands upon Howl! Happening's innovative exhibitions and public programs and focuses on the thriving multi-dimensional artistry and history of the East Village/Lower East Side." 

It will also serve as the headquarters for Howl Arts, which purchased the commercial space here in 2018.

Here's more via the Howl press announcement:

By the community, for the community, HA/HA will be activated with three exhibition galleries, as well as a library, screening and reading rooms, a chef's kitchen, and an outdoor terrace for special events. 

Energized by the creative and disruptive spirit of the 60s, 70s, and 80s on the Lower East Side ... HA/HA expands Howl's programming capabilities and aims to advance Howl Arts' mission to preserve and showcase the legacy of often overlooked underground and experimental cultures of the East Village and downtown neighborhoods. 

"We've been fighting against gentrification in the East Village for decades," says Howl executive director Jane Friedman. 

Howl's Permanent Collection, to be showcased at HA/HA, comprises over 3,000 objects, including art, rare digital and analog media, performance-art ephemera, and personal archives from the 1960s onward. 

The collection documents the origins and growth of local cultural and social movements that have had far-reaching impact — offering a myriad of opportunities for new interpretations of the punk, new-wave, and no-wave movements; performance art; drag; street art; public-access television; nightlife; LGBTQ activism; the AIDS epidemic; and urban gentrification.

And the inaugural exhibition opens today (Sept. 19) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:

"Icons, Iconoclasts, and Outsiders" presents works by artists, writers, musicians, scenesters, performers, icons, iconoclasts, outsiders and other creators from the 1960s to the present whose life and work energized the underground and are now entering mainstream cultural discourse.

Selected works on display include Arturo Vega, Brian Butterick, Richard Hambleton, Helen Oliver Adelson, Marcia Resnick and Scooter LaForge, among many others. 

The exhibit is up through Oct. 31. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This main-floor and lower-level space at 250 Bowery was previously the International Center of Photography, which moved to a new home on Broome Street. The Howl HQ is on the upper floors.

Spring forward with Al Diaz

Acclaimed street artist Al Diaz, whose career spans 50 years in NYC, is the subject of a new (virtual) exhibition via the East Village-based Howl! Happening starting tomorrow.

On Tuesday, Diaz added a seasonal touch to the gate at 246 Bowery (at Stanton Street) ... the message reads: "Spring. Nature's Most Optimistic Gesture."

NY1's Roger Clark caught up with Diaz while on the Bowery.

If the letters on Diaz's work look familiar, it's because they are made up of reclaimed New York City Transit Wet Paint Sign characters, and subway system icons.  

"Being a New Yorker and all, it's a kind of ubiquitous alphabet, constrained alphabet, that as commuters we see every day," said Diaz, who makes messages of all sorts with those letters intended to inspire action.

Diaz grew up in the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D. He started writing graffiti at age 12. As a teen in the late 1970s, he and his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat collaborated on a series of cryptic messages seen around the city signed from SAMO©. 

The show at Howl!, titled A Subterraneous Journal, features work that Diaz created during the pandemic. 

Find more info about the exhibit, which is on through May 30, at this link. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The EVG podcast: Al Diaz on BOMB1, SAMO© and Basquiat

'Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest' extended at Howl! Happening

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

You have one more week to see "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest" at Howl! Happening.

The exhibit, originally set to end today, will be up through Aug. 30 now.

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals.

These works have been preserved and are now on display at Howl!

The gallery, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find more details about the artists at this link.

Howl! is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and requires masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• A look at 'Bringing Back Bowery' at Howl! Happening

A look at 'Bringing Back Bowery' at Howl! Happening

Howl! Happening reopened Thursday with a special exhibit titled "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest."

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals.

These works have been preserved and are now on display at Howl! EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by Thursday for a look...






[Scooter LaForge's "People Have the Power"]


[Izhar Patkin's "Aria: After the Black Paintings"]


[Sono Kuwayama in front of her work "Look Up"]


["Little Boy Blue" by Catt Caulley, Grace H. Gutekanst & Robert Blodgett]


["Black Trans Lives Matter" by Maya Edelman, Scooter LaForge & Sono Kuwayama]


[Sono Kuwayama, Scooter LaForge, Hitomi Nakamura & James Rubio]

Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Thursday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The show ends on Aug. 23.

The gallery is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and will require masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken. Find more details about the artists at this link.

'Public Art as Protest' debuts at Howl! Happening

Howl! Happening reopens today with a special exhibit titled "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest."

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. (Read more about it here.)

She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals, such as Love Power between Great Jones and Fourth Street...



... created by East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge along with Hitomi Nakamura and James Rubio.

The murals, which were started to feel the effects of the summer heat, will now find a second life at Howl! Here's more about the show:

After the tragic death of George Floyd, impassioned citizens in cities around the world rose up together in a call for justice. The streets became the backdrop for our collective mourning, our outrage, and our plea for change. Opportunistic agitators took advantage of peaceful demonstrations and forced many businesses to board up storefronts all over New York. On the Bowery ... the plywood barriers became windows into the hearts of the neighborhood’s artists.

"Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest" is a re-presentation of public artworks made in solidarity with the protest movement fighting for racial equality and police reform.

Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Thursday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The show ends on Aug. 23.

The gallery is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and will require masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken. Find more details at this link.

Last weekend for this depiction of 1980s Times Square at Howl! Happening

Jane Dickson’s exhibit, "Hot, Hot, Hot," ends its residency at Howl! Happening tomorrow (Sunday!).

The show features "a series of rarely seen and moody paintings of Times Square peep shows from the 1980s." And here's more via the Howl! website:

Dickson’s history and legacy are rooted in Times Square. She worked and lived there from 1978 to 2008 documenting her daily lived experiences and observations as a young woman. In photos, drawings, and paintings that utilize unconventional industrial and domestic materials as surfaces — including carpet, sandpaper, and black plastic bags—she captured a time and place that was notoriously lawless, squalid, and vibrantly alive.

Read more about her work at this link.

Howl! Happening is at 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

The hours are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and tomorrow.

---

I like her work and backstory... here's more via an interview from January 2019...

Marc H. Miller on 20 years atop 98 Bowery

Artist and curator Marc H. Miller, who we've featured on EVG through the years (see links below!), will be at Howl! Happening tomorrow (Saturday) night discussing his life downtown ... particularly the years he lived in a loft at 98 Bowery as an observer and participant in the changes taking place in art and music.

A quick overview of what to expect:

Drawing from the site’s archive of photos and video clips, Miller recounts stories about Harry’s Bar and CBGB; the seminal 1978 Punk Art show; collaborative work with Bettie Ringma, Curt Hoppe, Alan Moore, and Paul Tschinkel — all residents at 98 Bowery; his year in Amsterdam; and the varied roles he played in the East Village art scene and in the rise of hip-hop culture in the 1980s.

Miller is the curator of the Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk exhibition at the Queens Museum (2016), and for his video interview with Jean-Michel Basquiat in Paul Tschinkel’s Art/new york series. His online store Gallery 98 has reanimated vintage art ephemera.

Miller will also be unveiling an an updated version of his website 98 Bowery: 1969-89.

The presentation begin tomorrow (Oct. 19) at 7 p.m. at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

You can also read a Q&A between Miller and Eric Davidson at Please Kill Me right here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Life at 98 Bowery: 1969-1989 (Q&A with Miller)

Revisiting Punk Art

On the Bowery: CBGB and its impact on the visual arts and downtown nightlife