NEW YORK
On the Bowery
curated by Loren Munk
Nov 13, 2021 - Jan 30, 2022
A Catalog is available, $15.
Curator’s Statement
Art history is a complex, ever-expanding tapestry composed of countless threads. To aid in the understanding of this phenomena, periods and
boundaries are imposed. Though arbitrary, these divisions attempt to map the parameters, changes and evolution within art’s historic fields.
Since the end of World War II, the cultural community of New York City has moved into a pivotal position in the worldwide evolution of visual culture. These developments have been facilitated by the collaborations and associations of individuals, groups and institutions.
About fifteen years ago, following the recommendations of Walter Robinson, I picked up a copy of “The Field of Cultural Production” by Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu, through his extensively documented research, confirmed many of my intuitive notions regarding art as a social practice, the accumulation of “cultural capital”, and the importance of the structure of our creative community.
The Bowery/Lower East Side neighborhood is a unique stretch of Manhattan real estate with a cast of extraordinary characters, and a turbulent cycle of ebbs and flows. ON THE BOWERY is conceived as an investigation into the chronological, and geographic nature of art’s production and evolution within this milieu. The period of interest focused on in this exhibition (roughly the mid 1960’ to 2020), provides an outstanding opportunity to study how shifts in living/working space, economic ups and downs, and gentrification effect generations of artistic aesthetics and production. Furthermore, I believe the current crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragile nature of these relationships and encourages a deeper awareness of how important maintaining our cultural connections and legacies are.
Loren Munk
August, 2021
List of artists in the On the Bowery Group-show :
Vito Acconci, Lynda Benglis, Jake Berthot, Regina Bogat, William Burroughs, John Chamberlain, Peter Dean, David Diao, Martha Diamond, Tom Doyle, Robert Frank, Max Gimblett, Michael Goldberg, Brenda Goodman, Adolf Gottlieb, Bryon Gysin, Eva Hesse, Gerald Jackson, Valerie Jaudon, Lester Johnson, Ronnie Landfield, June Leaf, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Robert Mapplethorpe, Kazuko Miyamoto, Malcolm Morley, Loren Munk, Elizabeth Murray, Joe Overstreet, Harvey Quaytman, James Rosenquist, Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Archie Shepp, Billy Sullivan, Lynn Umlauf, Tom Wesselman, Stanley Whitney.