Gallery 98 is the brainchild of writer, curator, and educator Marc H. Miller. The online gallery is a chronicle of Downtown New York’s influential art and music scene from the 1970s and ‘80s. Miller, along with Ephemera Press’ Jonah Wolf, have curated a selection of posters and announcements from the time period — their own personal survey of the decade. “The Downtown Era began in the 1970s, when aspiring artists of the baby-boomer generation arrived in New York,” the duo writes in the online exhibition essay. “Over the next two decades, they would radically change the art world, opening it up to new forms of media, new modes of exhibiting art, and new social perspectives.” Works include an invite to a show for German artist Joseph Beuys, “whose 1974 visit to New York introduced the idea of ‘social sculpture’ that could affect political change,” an invite to the first posthumous exhibition of Andy Warhol’s work, and an announcement for feminist group the Guerrilla Girls’ exhibition of ten outdoor billboards in four New York boroughs. See more in our gallery.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1980: Edit deAk, “Dubbed in Glamour” – Poster for performance series at the Kitchen Poster designed by Mike Glier, with photograph by Walter Robinson. Offset print on paper, 21 1/2″ x 16 1/2″.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1981: Cindy Sherman, “New Work” – Invitation to exhibition at Metro Pictures Offset print, 7 1/2″ x 5″.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1991: Guerrilla Girls – Announcement for Public Art Fund billboard project
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1988: Jean-Michel Basquiat – Invitation to exhibition at Vrej Baghoomian Offset print, 6″ x 9″ (folded); 10 1/2″ x 9″ (open)
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1985 & 1986: “New York Film Festival Downtown” – Presented by Tessa Hughes-Freeland & Ela Troyano
Programs for Second Annual (one folded sheet, 10 1/2″ x 15 3/4″) and Third Annual (one folded sheet, 11 1/2″ x 16 1/2″) New York Film Festival Downtown.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1992: Lady Pink, Daze, Crash, Futura 2000, Lee – Poster for graffiti exhibition at Klarfeld Perry Gallery Offset print poster, with original tags in felt marker. Edition of 300.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1988: Keith Haring – Poster for exhibition at Tony Shafrazi Gallery Offset poster, 34 ¼ x 25 in.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1987: Andy Warhol, “Recent Work” – Invitation to first posthumous exhibition Offset print, 9″ x 5″ (folded); 18″ x 5″ (open)
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1987: Red Spot, “The Talking Wall Show” – Flyer for outdoor series of “artist-made slide shows” Offset print, 4″ x 5 1/2″.
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
Image credit: Gallery98, used with permission
1989: Bullet Space, “An Act of Resistance” – Invitation to group exhibition Offset print, embossed with custom stamp, 8″ x 5″. Design by Paul Castrucci.