Mark Kostabi and the East Village Scene 1983-1987 [Paperback]

Baird Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2003

Mark Kostabi and The East Village Scene 1983-1987, photos and text by Baird Jones, forward by Enrico Baj. Published by Matteo Editore, Venice, 2002. 144 pages. A unique record of New Yorks East Village art scene as it revolved around the contoversial painter, Mark Kostabi. Baird Jones, as a paparazzo and art critic for the East Village Eye, followed Kostabi around during the mid-80s when the East Village Neo-Expressionist movement was at its zenith. 196 of Jones' gritty photographs are matched with interviews and analysis to record the live wire enthusiasm of that time. The whole cast of lively downtown characters strut across these pages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Matteo Editore (June 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8888726012
• ISBN-13: 978-8888726014
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lively and irreverent, Baird Jones blazed a swath through New York nightlife as a writer, photographer, party promoter, art critic and raconteur. Baird had a notable collection of academic credentials, from The Buckley School, Groton, Columbia University (undergraduate and two masters degrees) and NYU (a law degree and master of social work), all printed on his legendary nightclub party passes. A witty and skillful interviewer, he wrote under his own byline for ''The East Village Eye,'' various British tabloids, the Daily News ''Rush & Malloy'' column, artnet.com, and contributed freelance items to others. He was the author and photographer of ''Mark Kostabi and the East Village Art Scene 1983-1987.'' His intentionally provocative and daring promotion of nightclubs, from Studio 54 to Webster Hall, earned him the tabloid nickname ''Bad Boy Baird.'' Behind this invented persona, Baird found solace in art and in helping artists. He died in 1998 at the age of 53.
See also
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/nyregion/09jones.html?emc=eta1
Bairdjones.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars East Village Revival, October 11, 2003

By 

JAMES TULLY (NEW YORK CITY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark Kostabi and the East Village Scene 1983-1987 (Paperback)

This book is a striking contribution to the resurgence of interest in a brief but little documented and even less understood period of recent art history. There are over a hundred photographs, many with substantial captions, all taken by Jones who worked as a paparazzi for the East Village Eye during that wild era, with a breezy art critical text which makes for highly addictive reading.
The author effortlessly documents enfant terrible Mark Kostabi's rise up through the Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat dominated East Village ranks. During the 80s Jones also wrote art criticism for all the downtown papers and he tries his hardest to plumb the forces that made for the Lower Eastside's unexpected burst into art world prominence, and then after a few frenetic years, brought about the scene's equally rapid evaporation. It is a strength of the text that the graffiti movement emanating from the South Bronx, and specifically centered at its outpost at Fashion Moda, is well documented both in photographs and in analysis.
The downtown artists included are very much the first wave of the Lower Eastside, including the Colab group and the avant garde pioneers coming in from the earlier Tribeca, grant-oriented 70s scene. Jenny Holzer is mentioned many times, Jeff Koons is not mentioned once. The importance of the death of graffitist Michael Stewart in 1983 at the hands of the police is highlighted in both galvanizing the Lower Eastside painters and in, perhaps more importantly, exciting the media. Similarly the interviews elicit the authentic range of art world theoretical voices from Peter Frank's heavily semiotic laden jargon to the street talk of many of the brainy artists themselves.
Andy Warhol's surprising role both as a player and as a role model in the East Village game plan is made clear right from the start of the book. For a yearbook style text like this to come out, some 15-20 years after the fact is so surprising, especially given the relative institutional neglect that the East Village movement has received in the last decade. The quality and weight of the paper and the binding of this book is extraordinary.
This book was produced entirely in Italy where the best art books are often made, and it will probably outlast many of the Loisaida artworks pictured in it. No other similar books are in the offing by other authors so it fair to say that this book has a final word quality to it, and in this respect, its casual lack of gravitas and photo-orientation is fitting, because the East Village always had as its motto, "Let's Party!"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, February 8, 2010

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark Kostabi and the East Village Scene 1983-1987 (Paperback)

Excellent history and art criticism of New York's Lower Eastside artists. Worth reading for anyone interested in Warhol.