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March 14, 2024
Richard Prince: Books, Catalogues and Gallery Cards

Gallery 98 is fortunate to have recently acquired a substantial collection of catalogues and books by Richard Prince. Below you will find a small selection of these publications, as well as some of Prince’s gallery cards that were already in our inventory.  What emerges is a mini-portrait of Prince, one of the most innovative,…

March 7, 2024
Downtown Independent Films: Posters and Flyers, 1970s & 1980s

While few of these films were commercial successes, they provide a glimpse of the passions that fueled the East Village art scene during a creative highpoint. These low-budget, Super-8 productions embody the period’s do-it-yourself ethos, as well as, the fusion of art, music and club culture that animated the downtown…

February 29, 2024
Stefan Eins: Crowbar and Pulley, 1974 – Two Ready-Made Art Objects Inspired by Wonder

Born and raised in Austria, Eins came to NYC in 1967, and settled into a small storefront in Soho in 1972 when it was still a deserted manufacturing district.  When art galleries began moving into the area, Eins hid his bed behind a screen, and turned his live-in studio into a D.I.Y. exhibition…

February 22, 2024
Portraits of Artists: Gagosian Invitation Cards, 1992 – 1993

The cards featured here date from the early 1990s when Gagosian mostly exhibited older established male artists. They all include images of artists in their studios, emphasizing their fame, and the drama and romance of art making.

February 15, 2024
Luxury Art Ephemera: Gagosian – Beverly Hills, New York, London, Rome

The dramatic expansion of art as an upscale commodity in the 2000s is directly reflected in art ephemera. Leading the trend was the Gagosian Gallery whose multiple venues in the US and Europe exhibited some of the most commercially successful artists.

February 9, 2024
The Blues Aesthetic (1989): Looking Deeper at African American Art

As we searched our inventory for something special for Black History Month, the catalogue for Richard Powell’s 1989 exhibition “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism” provided the necessary inspiration. Gallery 98 has assembled a collection of related ephemera.

February 1, 2024
The ARTIES: Awards for Performance Artists, 1986

The First (And Only) Annual Arties, 1986. Organized by Franklin Furnace, Awards for Performance Artists, Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Nam June Paik, and others, Cover Photo by Robert Mapplethorpe.

January 27, 2024
The Rise of Alternative Spaces in the 1970s and 1980s

P.S 1 (Project Studios One), a former school building, was converted in 1976 into a huge alternative art space that is now part of the Museum of Modern Art.

January 19, 2024
Who Are Your Favorite Artists? Ephemera Sorted by Artist

Every art announcement card is unique.  Each promotes a specific exhibition taking place at a particular place and time. An important decision is made about which image to include: A work in the exhibition? A detail of a work? Or maybe a portrait of the artist? The fun of collecting these cards lies in…

January 12, 2024
Search Our Inventory By Themes: Over 7,000 Art Ephemera Items Now Online

There are many reasons to be interested in art ephemera — a type of collectible that has the advantage of being small, easy to store, and modestly priced. Many collectors follow specific artists, while others appreciate catchy images that they can casually display on a bookcase or coffee tape.

January 4, 2024
William Pope.L’s Unknown History

Remembering performance artist William Pope.L (1955 – 2023) who passed last week at the age of 68.

January 2, 2024
The Theoretical Girls: Women Artists of The Pictures Generation

The 1988 announcement card from a Metro Pictures exhibition featuring eleven successful women artists illustrates the gender diversification that was slowly taking hold in the art world in the 1980s. This demographic shift was especially noticeable amongst the artists associated with the then still unnamed “Pictures Generation” art movement which…

December 21, 2023
Looking Back at The Year in Review: Favorite Newsletters in 2023

See all of Gallery 98’s newsletters on our Newsletter Archive page A lot has happened at Gallery 98 over the last year. Most significantly, we have introduced a redesigned website that not only looks and functions better, but also includes a cart that makes purchasing…

December 15, 2023
Holiday Ideas: Faith Ringgold, Philip Glass, Keith Haring, others

There are many reasons to treasure art ephemera. It can be an item of art historical significance; maybe it’s an announcement card for a favorite artist; or perhaps it touches on a theme that’s personally important to you. All of Gallery 98’s holiday suggestions fall into one or more of these categories.

December 7, 2023
Last Call Before Christmas: Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980

Bettie Ringma and Marc H Miller Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980. Hardback, 216 pages; 9.33 × 11.22 inches; published Lecturis, 2023; Retail price: $49.95 We are pleased that signed copies of Bettie Ringma and Marc H. Miller’s book, Selling Polaroids in…

November 29, 2023
Alice Denney (1922 – 2023): Shaking Things Up in Boring Old Washington, D.C.

Alice Denney enjoyed nothing more than causing a ruckus by exhibiting challenging new art in “boring old  Washington.” We first met in 1974 when I moved to Washington for a year, and art-world acquaintances suggested I contact her. Alice loved action — giving parties, collecting art by young artists, and…

November 28, 2023
Photocopy Machines: Xerox Flyers, Zines, and Other Art Ephemera

Last week’s opening of the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines (closing March 31, 2024) is a reminder of the important role that the photocopy machine played in the creation of new modes of art and art ephemera. While the technology used in copy machines dates back to…

November 16, 2023
ODDS AND ENDS: Art Ephemera From Our Inventory

This week’s newsletter features an eclectic group of items. The artists created in a range of styles — expressionism, pop, no wave, cartoon satire, and photo journalism. There is also a wide range in what we identify as art ephemera, including familiar formats like announcement cards and press releases, as well as artist books, artist-designed advertisements, an…

November 2, 2023
A Collection of Ephemera From The Texas Gallery: Houston as a Center for New Art in the 1970s and 80s

Thanks in part to our new high-visibility website, Gallery 98 is increasingly being approached by artists and galleries who want their history to be part of our ever-expanding collection of art ephemera. Recently, we were fortunate to obtain a large collection of announcement cards from the Texas Gallery, courtesy of its principal owner Fredericka…

October 26, 2023
Four Stories in Art Ephemera

There is no shortage of treasures buried in Gallery 98’s extensive inventory of close to 7,000 items.  Each one of these four items captures a different moment and direction in art. All have stories to tell. Richard Lippold, Sculpture for Four Seasons Restaurant, Signed Card, 1961 Richard Lippold, The Four Seasons,…

October 20, 2023
A Collectible for Art History Buffs

Whether you’re interested in a specific artist, an art movement like graffiti, or how art reflects political and social issues, you can quickly find what you are looking for on Gallery 98’s swift new website. Our inventory of art ephemera keeps growing — currently there are 6,961 items posted, and we…

October 12, 2023
Jenny Holzer & The Artist Group COLAB, 1978 – 1983: Posters, Stickers, and The Black Book

Gallery 98 is fortunate to have recently acquired a collection of early Jenny Holzer items from 1979-82, a fertile period when Holzer first developed important aspects of her art. These were also the years when Holzer was an active participant in Collaborative Projects Inc. (COLAB), an artist’s group, that like Holzer, shared an interest in…

October 6, 2023
Rediscover Art Through Vintage Ephemera: Over 6,800 Items Posted – More Items Posted Daily

For those interested in the history of art, the cards, posters and catalogs created in conjunction with past exhibitions provide a way to relive the art experience as it originally unfolded. These vintage collectibles not only provide documentation of specific art-world events, they also contextualize art in the social and commercial structure that gives art its fullest…

September 28, 2023
AREA The Legendary Nightclub: Cards and Invitations, 1983 – 1987

AREA Nightclub, Bye-Bye Breese: Farewell to the One and Only (Doorman Joe Brese), Card with Gold Sticker, January 17, 1985Size: 2.75 x 3.5 inchesSold New York’s nightclub scene in the 1970s and 1980s is legendary today for its creativity, as well, its hedonism and debauchery. Studio 54 (1977),…

September 21, 2023
Jean-Michel Basquiat & AREA Nightclub: Invitations Capture the Connection, 1985

Jean-Michel Basquiat and AREA owner Eric Goode from the book Area: 1983–1987 authored by Eric Goode & Jennifer Goode, photograph by Valerie Shaff, published by Abrams, 2013 For the talented and prolific Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1985 shaped up to be a banner year. In February, his portrait was on the cover of The…

September 14, 2023
Exciting News: Our New Website

Gallery 98 is happy to announce the launch of our new website. It has been obvious for quite a while that vintage art ephemera is a growing market, and that people enjoy looking through our vast collection of old cards and posters. It has also been clear that websites grow…

September 6, 2023
A Public Sculpture/An Easy Target: Richard Serra & David Hammons

Every example of art ephemera tells a story, and sometimes, when two items connect, the story can get very interesting. That’s certainly the case with two items currently in Gallery 98’s inventory:  a poster featuring a photo of Richard Serra’s public sculpture TWU (the initials for the Transit Workers Union), and a copy of Franklin Furnaces’ magazine Flue with…

August 25, 2023
Three Tasteful Vintage Posters

Expanding our inventory of vintage posters by top artists from the last decades of the 20th Century is an ongoing process here at Gallery 98. We are currently photographing and processing a large collection of posters. As a taste of what is to come, here are three favorites. Each is…

August 18, 2023
Psychedelic Solution: A Counterculture Fine Arts Gallery, 1986–1995

During its ten-year run as a gallery from 1986–1995, Psychedelic Solution provided a populist alternative to art styles found in other galleries. It specialized in works by Rick Griffin, Robert Williams, Robert Crumb and the many other accomplished artists who can be credited with pioneering what is now known as psychedelic…

August 9, 2023
Fashion Moda: A South Bronx Outpost

When Stefan Eins opened the art space Fashion Moda in the South Bronx in 1978, he hoped that the unlikely setting, one of the country’s most devastated neighborhoods, would stir the creativity of his Downtown peers.

August 2, 2023
“Art Gangster” Unmasked

For several years, Gallery 98 has been puzzled by a piece of mail art in our inventory, originally sent to the offices of Artforum in 1974. The piece consists of the front page of the LA Times of February 28, 1974, with a lead story on Tony Shafrazi’s vandalism of Pablo Picasso’s…

July 26, 2023
Dubbed in Glamour: Creative Women of Downtown NYC, 1980

Some art ephemera ages especially well. One example is this vintage 1980 poster for “Dubbed in Glamour” advertising three nights of performances at the Kitchen in Soho.

July 20, 2023
Revisiting Some of Gallery 98’s Earliest Online Exhibitions

As Gallery 98 continues creating new online exhibitions, our old exhibitions remain online for viewing. From our newsletter archive we have resurrected here an August 9, 2017 newsletter promoting the most popular of our early online exhibitions.

July 12, 2023
“Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Press Packet for a 1984 MoMA Exhibition

MoMA’s 1984 blockbuster exhibition “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art proudly boasted that the exhibition was the first to “juxtapose modern and tribal objects in the light of informed art history.” While the organizers thought of themselves as being scholarly and objective, the fact that they put quotation marks around the…

July 6, 2023
T-Shirts From The Fashion Moda Store at Documenta 7, 1982

In 1982 the idea of the DIY artist store went mainstream when the upscale German exhibition documenta 7 asked Stefan Eins & Jenny Holzer to create a Fashion Moda Store.

June 29, 2023
Front Page News in the Netherlands

“Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980” a book of photographs by Bettie Ringma and Gallery 98’s Marc H Miller had a successful launch last week in Amsterdam.

June 21, 2023
Toyo’s Rivington School Sculpture Garden Portfolio, 1985–87

Gallery 98 presents Toyo Tsuchiya’s Rivington School Sculpture Garden portfolio. The portfolio includes a panoramic view of the now destroyed sculpture garden, as well as eleven additional prints signed and annotated by Toyo.

June 15, 2023
The Vanitas Still-Life Paintings of Audrey Flack, 1976–78

Vintage art ephemera by Audrey Flack, including hand-signed offset prints of her vanitas still-life paintings, available for purchase at Gallery 98.

June 8, 2023
Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980: Book Launch at the Amsterdam City Archives

The Amsterdam City Archives will host the launch of “Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980” on June 15th. Copies can be purchased directly from Lecturis NL.

June 1, 2023
Beats, Yippies, Panthers: Counterculture Ephemera

This newsletter showcases counterculture ephemera from the 1960s, including items related to Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock, the Black Panther Party, the Chicago Eight trial, Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Tuli Kupferberg, and the Cannabis Cup.

May 25, 2023
The New York Phonebook as Raw Material: Two Fluxus Artists—Jean Dupuy and William Stone

Works by Fluxus artists Jean Dupuy and William Stone using old New York Phonebooks showcase the movement’s freedom, experimentation, recycling, and humor.

May 18, 2023
The Magazine As Artwork: Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Jenny Holzer

Gallery 98 showcases selected issues of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) magazine from the 1990s, featuring cover designs and picture spreads created by artists Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, and Richard Prince.

May 11, 2023
Experiments in Art and Technology: The Catalog for 9 Evenings, 1966

A rare catalog for 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, a 1966 performance series organized by Billy Kluver that combined art and technology, and featured artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Yvonne Rainer, and John Cage.

May 4, 2023
Artist Spotlight: Vito Acconci (1940–2017)

Acconci’s work was influential in the art world, opening the way for performance and video art, and reconfiguring conceptual art into something more personal and expressive.

April 27, 2023
Hip-Hop (1984) & Art After Midnight (1986): Two Rare Books Signed by Steven Hager

Hager’s books document the early history of hip-hop culture and the intersection of nightlife and art in the East Village scene, featuring interviews with key artists.

April 20, 2023
Vintage Art Posters: Rauschenberg, Lady Pink, Goldin, Parrino, Kiefer

Highlights include a rare collection of collaborative posters from COLAB’s Talk is Cheap exhibition and Lady Pink’s poster from Your House is Mine. Visit Gallery 98’s Poster Page for additional items.

April 13, 2023
Art Posters, 1970s–80s: Warhol, Beuys, Haring, Basquiat

Vintage art posters from the 1970s and 80s, including iconic works by Warhol, Basquiat, Haring, and the Guerrilla Girls, now available at Gallery 98.

April 6, 2023
Leonard Abrams (1954–2023): Remembering the Publisher of the East Village Eye

Leonard Abrams, founder of East Village Eye, has died unexpectedly. He started the Eye in 1979 and it remains a primary resource for 1980s culture.