WEDNESDAY AT A’s

Arleen Schloss’ “A’s” Club at 330 Broome Street was a nexus of Art, Music and Performance in New York City from the late 1970’s-mid 1980’s. On February 6, 1980, Matty Drehd and Al Díaz ‘edited’ an incredible evening of Art and Music featuring a number of downtown personalities.

In addition to Jean-Michel Basquiat, the “Vision” section included work by Light-Artists Dean Chamberlain and Suzan [sic] Dallas (now Susan Dallas-Swann), the late famed drag-king Diane Torr and Mary-Ann Monforton who would later become publisher of Bomb magazine. Along with Matty Drehd and Al Díaz, the “Sound” section featured jazz-saxophonist Paul Shapiro, Joy “Joy Stick” Bouldin (who would later appear in 3 of Jean-Michel’s paintings), and folk-rock musician Joe Gone.

The present flyer is particularly important due to its mention of “J.M. Basquiat”. Having previously been identified as SAMO©, Man Made or Jean Samo, this is likely Basquiat’s first post City-As-School identification as a Visual Artist using his full name (it had been used previously in reference to his band “Test Pattern”).

The text of the flyer was written by Al Díaz on a design by his then wife Jane Waltzer; the boy on the piano in the image is Waltzer’s younger brother.

Meant to be pasted on walls throughout New York City, original copies of this flyer are incredibly rare as the vast majority are presumed lost or destroyed. It is difficult to imagine that more than a handful of these original flyers remain extant. Moreover, provenance is critical as later reproductions are difficult to distinguish from originals.

Details: C² at A’s featuring art by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Venue: A’s (Arleen Schloss’ “A’s” club at 330 Broome Street)
Date: February 6, 1980

Provenance:
Edit DeAK, New York
Gallery98, New York
Private Collection, New York