POST-GRAFFITI

(New York): (Sidney Janis Gallery), 1983. First edition. Near fine.. Scarce exhibition catalogue for a groundbreaking group show by Basquiat, Haring, Ortiz, Lady Pink (Sandra Fabara), Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, and eleven other graffiti artists, held at the Sidney Janis Gallery in December, 1983. This early gallery showing of graffiti art was advertised by Janis as a transitional moment in the evolution of an ephemeral and ungoverned art form to a fully recognized, "valid" movement, sanctioned by the art establishment and welcomed into its curated traditions. Contemporary reception was mixed: Artforum disapproved, claiming that the "domesticated confines" of the gallery space removed both bite and context from an artistic language better suited to the subways; Artforum did not find it necessary to mention that the corrupting hand of the bourgeois collector carries with it not only the deadening anesthetic effect of "legitimization," but also money, which even the wittiest and boldest of outsider artists may find some use for.

The full list of artists represented in POST-GRAFFITI: A-One (Anthony Clark), Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bear (Kwame Monroe), Marc Brasz, Crane, Crash (John Matos), Daze (Chris Ellis), Futura 2000 (Leonard McGurr), Keith Haring, Angel Ortiz, The Arbitrator Koor (Charles Hargrove), Lady Pink (Sandra Fabara), Don Leicht, NOC 167 (Melvin Samuels, Jr.), Lee Quinones, Ramm-Ell-Zee (Stephen Piccirello), Kenny Scharf, and Toxic (Torrick Ablack).

A scarce document from one of the first graffiti shows at an established gallery: "The title of this exhibition [...] is not to suggest that these new artists no longer work in graffii [...] but more to attribute in their transition from subway surfaces to canvas, an extension in scope and concept of their spontaneous imagery" (Sidney Janis, from his foreword). 11'' x 8.5''. Original saddle-stapled black and white pictorial wrappers by Crash (John Matos). Black-and-white plates. [20] pages. Sticker residue to lower corner of front cover, small pen marking to inside front cover. Two small stamps from the Soho Center Library at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Light wear to extremities. (Inventory #: 48590)