Kenny Scharf

Janis Savitt, Keith Haring, Dianne Brill,
and Kenny Scharf, 1987

Kenny Scharf in his studio, 2012

Kenny Scharf was born 1958 in Los Angeles California. He is an American painter who now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA at the School of Visual Arts in 1980. Scharf’s work became well known in the 80s art scene due to his monstrous pop culture based paintings and installations. He is very much inspired by animated cartoons that he watched as a child such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

Scharf was a key figure in the 1980s East village art scene. He held shows at the Fun Gallery (1981) and tony Shafrazi (1984) and now museums such as the Whitney, Monterrey Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Queens Museum of Art have embraced his work. He has collaborated with Keith Haring, Scott Ewalt, Joe Grillo and Laura Grant of Dearraindrop, and many other influential people. 

Karen Finley

Karen Finley is a living performance artist who's work is categorized as obscure due to its graphic nature of sexuality, abuse, and disenfranchisement.

Karen was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1958. She received her MFA at the San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts. Karen Immersed herself in the Bay area Punk Scene of 1977. There she performed at art galleries and underground music clubs. With the help of an NEA Grant Karen moved to New York City where she collaborated with many artists like David Wojharowiz and The Kipper Kid. In her performances she is often nude dabbing, smearing, and pouring different materials like sprinkles, chocolate, or eggs on her body to symbolize the violation of the female character, she speaks for these women in her screams and moans on stage. Some of her recordings featured her rants over disco music (some of which were produced by Madonna). Because of the controversy of most of her pieces Karen has been in many popular media outlets (Oprah, Seinfeld, and the character of Maureen in the musical Rent is thought to have been an on homage to Karen). Karen has published many books, and is currently teaching at New York University in Manhattan

Stephen Sprouse

Stephen Sprouse was a fashion designer and artist who was known for his eccentric taste in integrating bold, clashing styles and his punk-inspired day-glo graffiti prints. His career began when he started designing clothes for Debbie Harry's stage shows. Although his designs appealed to young customers, they were too expensive due to the high quality materials used. This lead to bankruptcy and production problems which forced him to hand-paint graffiti prints on his clothes instead. Although his success was inconsistent throughout his career as a fashion designer, he later became most well-known for his designs for the Louis Vuitton Paris spring 2000 collection. Inspired by his habit of scribbling phone numbers and reminder notes on his arms, he designed handbags using raw fluorescent-painted letterings to cover the Louis Vuitton monogram handbags.  

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat painting

Jean- Michel Basquiat 
( December 22, 1960- August 12, 1988) 

BOHEMIAN/LADIES' MAN/GENIUS/POET/DRUGGIE 

Jean- Michel Basquiat wan an American artist, and primary player in the 
1980's counter culture art movement of the East Village in NYC. He began his career doing obscure street graffitti art in 
  during the late 70's, however later evolved into an acclaimed Neo- Expressionist & Primitivist painter by the 80's. 

Jean-Michel was born and grew up in Brooklyn with his two sisters, 
leaving home at 18 to pursue his art career. 

Basquiat generally explored suggestive dichotomies, such as wealth vs.poverty and integration vs.segregation, 
often always incorporating social commentary into his artwork.
Basquiat viewed art as a " Springboard to deepen truths about the individual." 

He was heavily involved in the social scene of the time, which included musicians, artists, and designers of 
the counter culture movement including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, BLONDIE, Madonna, etc. 

Basquiat died August 12 1988 of Opiates and Cocaine overdose.

Eric Bogosian

Eric Bogosian, 2012

Eric Bogosian, 1980's

Eric Bogosian, born April 24, 1953 in Massachusetts, is an American actor, playwright, monologist and novelist. He went to Oberlin College and later moved to New York City to pursue a career in theatre. He married theatre director Jo Bonney in 1980 and have two sons. He applied his writing skills to several pictures including the play which he is most known for, Talk Radio. He is also known for his play subUrbia as well as numerous one-man shows. Between 1980 and 2000, Bogosian wrote and performed six major solos. His plays Talk Radio, subUrbiaand his solo, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll were adapted to film. He has written three novels: Mall, Wasted Beauty, andPerforated Heart. In television, Bogosian is known for his starring role in the series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He worked at The Kitchen as a phone operator and later founded the dance series there.

Danceteria

Danceteria, outside

Danceteria poster

Danceteria was a famous nightclub renowned for its various DJ’s. Throughout its history, it changed location seven times, the most famous one being the Danceteria at 30 west 21^st street in Manhattan.

The club was initially opened in 1979 by Rudolf Pieper and Jim Fouratt, but soon closed down due to the absence of a club license.  In 1982, Danceteria re-opened at 21^st street with John Argento hiring Pieper and Fouratt. The latter then got fired 3 months after, and Ruth Polsky got the job as the club’s talent booker. From then on, musicians such as Madonna, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, The Smiths, Cyndi Lauper, etc. performed, and attended the club, along with artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, etc.

As of today, all of the Danceterias no longer exist. Most have been turned into luxury condos and hotels. 

Diego Cortez

Diego Cortez, 1980's

Diego Cortez, 2003

Diego Cortez, born as James Curtis in 1946, is an influential character of the 1980’s New York art movement. Curator at large, he has been the instigator of several significant art exhibitions, one of them being the New York, New Wave exhibition at PS.1 in 1981, where he showcased works from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Stephen Sprouse, Kathy Acker, Robert Mapplethorpe, and many more.

Though mainly known for his role as curator/gallerist and for helping several artists break through in the arts field, Cortez has also been working as actor, musician, director, manager, producer, lecturer, author, etc. He has also co-founded the Mudd Club in 1978 with Steve Mass and Anya Phillips.

He is currently still alive, and still working in art, collaborating with museums and galleries.