ARTISTS
This project is dedicated to the main female contributors of the Rivington School Art Movement, women who did much to distinguish themselves with edgy, twisted, outstanding art
apropos for this 80s time period.
THERESA RODRIGUES
SYLVIA BULLETT
CHRISTA GOMPER
INGRID ANDRESEN
GLORIA McLEAN
RAKEN LEAVES
MAGGIE ENZ
MARGALIT BERRIET
ANGEL EYEDEALISM
Click here to read Angel's Artist Statement
SYLVIA BULLETT
Attached a photo here of me in a Rivington "Sex O'Clock" T-shirt at DAB's memorial--his artwork in the background. I think that logo was created by Fa-Q but better double-check that. Maybe it was Gizmo's design--rest their souls.Wish DAB was still with us to fill in the blanks here. DAB and I had recently gotten together when his friend Tenesh Webber came to visit us on 6th Street and recommended the Rivington School to me which DAB was already a part of. It became for a few of years a constant destination. I believe it was Cowboy Ray who bought the corner lot there--did he have oil money? That was the rumor. Remember the station wagon he drove with steer horns welded on the grill. He gathered the raggle taggle group of welders who combed the city for junk and irreverantly welded it together in a towering junky fence. With in that yard we often impromptu gathered to cook outside and sit around the fire shooting the shit-- and I mean conversing. Ken Hiratsuka was always there! We were decidedly counter-culture embracing freedom from all art and popular culture norms. While I as pursuing a musical career in earnest rehearsing with my band for shows at CBGB and other venues, performing in the Rivington School Sculpture Garden was liberating. No plans--no rules--pure inspiration in the moment. I remember rolling around on oil drums for a "Demo Moe" performance in the garden--totally liberating--just pure expression with no concern for whether it was "good" or not. I hauled my keyboard to the garden and would get rhythmic jams going that attendees would all join in on. When the Gas Station at 2B opened-- a Rivington School adjunct, I did a conceptual piece there. I gathered old piano harps that had been discarded at various NYC locations ad hauled them to the gas station and encouraged people to bang on the piano harps with whatever and got a tribal rhythm going--people started banging on the garage doors as well and we made such a racket that I was forever banned from playing at the Gas Station again. The Rivington scene included Jim C's No Se No social club-- a place where you would run into Mark Kostabi and Rockets Redglare. Also Shalom Neuman had a gallery in that neighborhood. When the Mars Bar opened on 2nd Ave there was a formal show of Rivington School artists' paintings and hang-able sculptures. I remember Luka Pizzorno's* cut outs of tin ceiling pieces and a painting I did called "Snake in the Grass"-- a dollar sign as a serpent rearing up with two blades of grass. Time marched on and I moved back up to Woodstock and continue working on my music here, recording at Area 52 Studios and independantly releasing my music. I create fire and ice sculptures that I show every year on Candlemas,February 2. Hearkening back to Rivington roots I create a "sculpture garden".
THERESA RODRIGUES
The mid-’80s were a wild, promiscuous time in my life. Working at Guerra Paint, an East Village artist supply shop. I had access to acrylic and pigments to experiment with and mix my own paint. It was at that store that I discovered the Rivington School, as members of RS invited me to wild parties and performances that would last all night. We partied so hard there were mornings that I woke up not knowing where I was. No-Say-No, the Sculpture Gardens, the Gas Station, and Mars bar were my RS hangouts. My art was spontaneous and raw. Inspired by Art Guerra, I used acrylic paint pushing it to its limits mixing it with interesting objects that I gathered from around the city. Found objects were preferable to bought objects being a broke-ass artist. Making sexy sometimes transparent clothing out of scraps I became my own art. Wearing bright make-up my face became Art. Coloring and cutting my hair into asymmetrical shapes, my hair became art. It was at this time, I met and started sleeping with Monty Cantsin. Monty was a performance artist and I often assisted him during his shows of blood, fire, and propaganda. My art was hung as part of Rivington School at Fusion Art, Mars Bar, Gas Station, No-say-No.Rivington School was an artist community of like-minded people who were freely expressing themselves. Sex, drugs, puNK rock and roll, without the rigid structure of the Soho Art World. It was an artist community, unlike anything I have ever experienced. Members were Painters, sculptors, performance artists, photographers and we made towering sculptures of steel and found objects in abandoned lots around the East Village. Currently, I live in Brooklyn with my family working as a Special Education High School teacher. Presently my artwork is mixed media collages with photographs, silkscreen, and acrylic with found objects. From 1985 to the present I am a Woman of Rivington School.
APOCALYNN
A ubiquitous presence in the East Village, LES of NYC, Apocalynn had a unique style unto herself.From her ginger dreads, to her painted toes, she was pure Art.Her medium was acrylic on canvas, and she also used spray paint for guerrilla street art.Her art is instantly recognizable, with her signature asymmetrical animals amidst odd textures and bold patterns. Just as she was a striking person visually, so is her art distinctive. She studied the dark arts of witchcraft, and spoke often of spells. Her art cast a spell on me, with its edgy characters, and strange elements. She lived on Clinton Street ever since I met her in the early 80's, always with black cats at her feet, and walls covered in paintings. The dear girl passed away in 2016, just before the release of the Rivington School book, and Toyo's opening at Howl. A fond remembrance of spending Christmas Eve with Apocalynn, and buying a small painting, still haunts me. Apocalynn's memory lives on in her exquisite art. She was a WORS,and she is honored here for she greatly contributed to Rivington School.
MARGALIT BERRIET
Born in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, living in Paris since 1988. She is a painter with a Master of Fine Arts from New York University and has been exhibited internationally in solo and group shows. Since 1984, she has published several essays and a book, and has initiated multidisciplinary arts events and conferences in the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, promoting, via the arts, a better
knowledge of cultural diversity and fostering intercultural dialogue. In 2003, she founded Mémoire de l’Avenir. She has collaborated with public and private institutions, including UNESCO, CIPSH, Musée du quai Branly, Centre George Pompidou, Musee de Louvre, Dapper, Musée d’Arts et d’Histoire de Judaism, the Institute de Monde Arab, and Musée de l’Homme.
ANGEL EYEDEALISM
In 1984, not knowing shit about fuck, or fuck about shit, I stumbled upon the Rivington School, a mythological Art Movement in NYC's LES. Ravaged by illness and youthful irreverence, I expressed myself in bold and flamboyant means. Searching thrift stores, I came up with kooky costumes, mismatched textures and fabrics. Local fashion designers asked me to do runway shows, and I ended up in People magazine for a fashion show I did at Danceteria.
Using the tag Angela Repellant, juxtaposed with edgy glamour and barely clad in diaphanous rags,I hit the runways. My face became canvas, as I painted it daily with neon eyeshadow and hot pink lipstick. Expressing this angst proved cathartic, as I screamed the words I'd written at ABC NO RIO, doing Spoken Word. At 8BC, I did my first Performance Art show, on the struggles of women in art. It was at 8BC that I met DAB: David Andrew Bennett. We started fucking and started Womb Service, my first NYC band. We played at CBGB, The World, and Sculptures Gardens, and hung with Sonic Youth ... more.