The Fun Gallery was an art gallery founded by Patti Astor and Bill Stelling in 1981. The Fun Gallery had a cultural impact until it closed in 1985. As the first art gallery in Manhattan's East Village, it exposed New York to the talents of

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

by showcasing

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artists like

Fab 5 Freddy Fred Brathwaite (born August 31, 1959), more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown ...

Futura 2000 Leonard Hilton McGurr (born November 17, 1955), known as Futura, and formerly known as Futura 2000, is an American graffiti artist. Biography He started to paint illegally on New York City's subway in the early 1970s, working with other artists ...

, Lee Quiñones,

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turki ...

, Dondi, Lady Pink, and ERO.

Contemporary artists This is a list of artists who create contemporary art, i.e., those whose peak of activity can be situated somewhere between the 1970s (the advent of postmodernism) and the present day. Artists on this list meet the following criteria: *The person ...

Kenny Scharf Kenny Scharf (born November 23, 1958) is an American painter known for his participation in New York City's interdisciplinary East Village art scene during the 1980s, alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Scharf's do-it-yourself prac ...

, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

also had solo exhibitions at the Fun Gallery.

History

The Fun Gallery emerged from the

punk scene The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedo ...

of the late 1970s in the East Village. After Patti Astor returned to New York City in 1975, she became an underground film actress and hung out at the club

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

, which became a punk rock and new wave venue for bands like Blondie,

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

, and the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

. In the following years, other clubs followed, like Hurrah and the

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Di ...

. Astor befriended graffiti artist Fab 5 Freddy, a link between the uptown hip-hop and graffiti scenes and the downtown punk and art worlds. As Astor was filming the movie ''

Wild Style ''Wild Style'' is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Ste ...

'' in 1981, she asked graffiti artist Futura 2000 to create a mural in her East Third Street apartment. She celebrated the completion of the mural with a party where many artists and art influencers attended. Due to the positive reception, Astor's friend Bill Stelling offered up a small space to open an art gallery. In September 1981, Astor opened the Fun Gallery in a storefront located at 229 East 11th Street for $175 a month. At the end of the year she relocated to 254 East 10th Street, where the rent was seven times more than the first. It was an alternative to the "pretentious" lower Manhattan art scene. Astor said, "We wanted to get away from that whole white people, white walls, white wine,

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

scene." It soon became a fixture in the downtown art scene. Artist Kenny Scharf had one of his first solo shows at the Fun Gallery in 1981, and he is credited with naming the gallery. At first, the gallery took on a new name for each show based on whoever was showing. Scharf decided that for his show, it would be called Fun Galley and then the name became permanent. In October 1981, Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 both had solo exhibitions at the Fun Gallery. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat had a solo exhibition at the Fun Gallery that opened on November 4, 1982. Basquiat's date for the opening was his girlfriend Madonna. Basquiat started out doing graffiti as

SAMO Samo (–) founded the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire (''realm'', ''kingdom'', or ''tribal union''), stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovakia, ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to ...

, but by 1982 he had established gallery representation in the United States and Europe. Although his art dealer

Bruno Bischofberger Bruno Bischofberger (born 1940) is a Swiss art dealer and collector. Life Bischofberger was born in 1940 in Zürich. He studied art history, archaeology and ethnography (folk art) at the University of Zurich, with further studies at the univ ...

praised his Fun Gallery exhibition, Basquiat complained about the lack of professionalism and stated that he wasn't paid. Some of the paintings included in the show were ''Equals Pi'' and '' A Panel of Experts''. By 1983, artist Keith Haring was increasingly disassociating himself from the graffiti scene and was exhibiting his work in galleries. He wanted to support the Fun Gallery and the artists, so he agreed to participate for a February 1983 solo exhibition. As the landscape of the East Village changed with other galleries opening and the rent increasing, Astor closed the Fun Gallery in 1985, and moved to Los Angeles. In 2013, Astor released her memoir, ''Fun Gallery… the True Story'', recounting her time in East Village art scene during the 1980s.{{Cite web, date=December 20, 2013, title=Fun Gallery… the TRUE Story, url=https://obeygiant.com/fun-gallery-the-true-story/, access-date=2020-10-06, website=Obey Giant, language=en-US

References

1981 establishments in New York City 1985 disestablishments in New York (state) Graffiti and unauthorised signage Cultural history of New York City Defunct art museums and galleries in Manhattan Contemporary art galleries in the United States Art galleries established in 1981 Art galleries disestablished in 1985 East Village, Manhattan