BACK ON BOWERY, 1981-85

An introduction to the story of ABC No Rio an artist run gallery on the Lower East Side that found inspiration in its Hispanic neighborhood, the politics of the 1980s, and in the emerging East Village music and art scene.

An introduction to the story of ABC No Rio an artist run gallery on the Lower East Side that found inspiration in its Hispanic neighborhood, the politics of the 1980s, and in the emerging East Village music and art scene.

Many of the artist connected with ABC No Rio were affiliated with Collaborative Project Inc. (Colab), a loosely organized artist group with innovative ideas about what art should be and how it should be exhibited and distributed.

Like the South Bronx art space Fashion/Moda, ABC No Rio was located in an urban slum. Artists connected to the gallery were committed to an interactive art reflecting political concerns. In this respect ABC No Rio paralleled other artist groups like Group Material and PADD.

The art world in the 1980s witnessed a revival of painting and sculpture of which ABC No Rio proved to be an early indicator. Exhibitions at the gallery included young, up-and-coming artists like Kiki Smith.

Many of the artists who showed at ABC No Rio had a political agenda and wanted to promote the improvement of social conditions with their art. Artists worked with children from local schools and created themed shows around political issues.

The year 1983 saw a shift at ABC No Rio as the volunteer artist administrator who had started and still ran the gallery passed the baton to a new group of artists who were primarily committed to performance and multi-media.

Through an ongoing series of poetry readings ABC No Rio helped continue the bohemian, multi-cultural and impassioned spirit that characterizes the Lower East Side's rich poetry tradition.

Today, the advertisements gathered in 1985 to pay for the printing of the ABC No Rio book are a time capsule of the first moments in the careers of up-and-coming artists and of early hot spots of the East Village art scene.

"ABC No Rio Dinero is in large measure a conventional victory story. A militant polemic and direct action are rewarded with an accommodation by power, then the fun begins." From the "Afterward" by Alan W. Moore for the book ABC No Rio Dinero; the Story of A Lower East Side Art Gallery.

Most of the artists that were featured in the book ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of A Lower East Side Art Gallery are still active today. Learn more about how their art evolved over the last 25 years through these website links.