NEW YORK, NY.- Steven Kasher Gallery inaugurates its 2010/11 season with the exhibition Max's Kansas City, on view September 15th through October 9th. It will feature over 150 vintage and limited edition photographs, and monumental sculptures and paintings by the inner circle of Max's artists, including John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, Larry Zox, Neil Williams, and Andy Warhol. A highlight will be Myers's recreation of his famous laser/jukebox installation.
The exhibition will launch Max's Kansas City: Art, Glamour, Rock and Roll (Abrams Image, 2010), a vibrant chronicle of the famed venue. The book will feature luminous photography by Bob Gruen, Anton Perich and others, and writing by Lou Reed, Lenny Kaye, Danny Fields, Lorraine O'Grady, and Steven Watson. It is edited by Steven Kasher.
There has never been a more exciting collision of art, music, and glamour than at Max's Kansas City in the 1960s and 70s. At Max's you could hang out with Andy Warhol, argue about art with John Chamberlain, or get a record deal just by showing up. Downstairs the artists were paying tabs with original art, upstairs was home to the iconoclastic New York music scene, featuring the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, and yet undiscovered stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Blondie, Iggy Pop, and Madonna. Maxs incubated more artists and musicians in New Yorks 60s and 70s cultural heyday than any other scene.
Maxs Kansas City was the exact spot where Pop Art and Pop Life came together in the 60s teenyboppers and sculptors, rock stars and poets from St. Marks Place, Hollywood actors checking out what the underground actors were all about, boutique owner and models, modern dancers and go-go dancers---everybody went to Maxs and everything got homogenized there. Andy Warhol
A concurrent show, entitled Artists at Maxs Kansas City: Hetero-holics and Some Women Too is being mounted at Loretta Howard Gallery.
Maxs Kansas City will be on view September 15th to October 9th, 2010. Steven Kasher Gallery is located at 521 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 6 pm.