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| Roy Lichtenstein. Wrapping Paper. Ca. 1969. Published by Bert Stern's, On 1st, New York |
Alden Projects™ brings together rare and rarely seen practical objects—prints and ephemera by Roy Lichtenstein comprising the artist’s complete works published from 1968-1969 by the visionary publishing house / gallery, On 1st located on New York’s First Avenue at 63rd Street. Part Pop Shop, part fashion boutique, On 1st was the brainchild of Marilyn Monroe photographer, Bert Stern. Conceptually and architecturally original, the enterprise published, displayed, and sold affordable “practical objects” in typically small editions by contemporary artists including Lichtenstein, Gerald Laing, Billy Apple, James Lee Byars, Sven Lukin and Bert Stern himself. Situated in an architecturally mind-blowing, Marshall McLuhan-inspired, high tech east side gallery designed by an architectural group named The American Thought Combine, On 1st opened around December 1968 with apparently very little inventory.
Stern’s gambit is mostly
remembered, if at all, for publishing Lichtenstein’s Paper Plate (1969), but On 1st also published other rarely
seen works by Lichtenstein as well, including screen printed Wrapping Paper (ca. 1968) and Wallpaper (ca. 1968) screen printed onto
fabric-backed metallic foil and offered for $60 a yard. Editions by other
artists included scarves depicting Marilyn Monroe in an edition of 20 by Bert
Stern ($30 each) and “a mile-long dress for two” by James Lee Byars. (On 1st
also sponsored what was reported as “a James Lee Byars event of 100 people
walking down First Avenue in a single Mammoth hat.”)
Erected at the shop’s entrance was
a two-ton installation / functional sign by artist, Sven Lukin in giant-sized,
illuminated lettering reading,
“ON”. According to a contemporary
account, “the ‘O’ is lined with nine TV screens which reach into the store. One
may scan the action; another played a taped conversation; a third, advertise(s)
what is being sold inside.” This quixotic, McLuhan-esque dream of a boutique
filled with mostly small editioned, functional objects by artists burned with a
hard, gem-like flame.
Not surprisingly, it closed its
doors nearly as soon as they opened: it seems to have closed after a few weeks or
perhaps a year at most, depending on which differing account is correct. It’s
not difficult to imagine, however, that a boutique sponsoring mile-long dresses
and $30 scarves by artists could have ever expected to recoup even a tiny
fraction of its expenses, not the least of which was the reported $150,000
construction budget—which of course would translate into over million dollars
today.
This—along with the mostly very
small production quantities of the editions produced—probably also accounts for
the paucity of historical memory of what was produced by, and what happened at
On 1st. “Decoration is the danger, function is the idea,” Stern told
New York Magazine in late 1968. “We
protect our thing from becoming junky. That’s why we limit it. It’s not going
to…Bloomingdales.”
Bert Stern’s enterprise
commissioned practical objects for an impractical setting, dedicating itself to
an unsustainable dream. Few practical objects---the wrapping paper and
wallpaper, for example--by Roy Lichtenstein were ever disseminated through On 1st;
those that were almost certainly fell into the dustbin of history. This
historically focused presentation recollects everything Lichtenstein produced
for Stern, probably for this first time in retrospect. Alden Projects™ is
pleased to exhibit additionally, a unique production maquette produced for On 1st
(1969-70) for an intended edition of paper cups that had been originally
designed by Lichtenstein in 1967 and which was inspired by the same impulse as
the paper plates, but which, unlike the latter, was never realized.
Part of Alden Projects™ function
is to address the loss of historical memory. Along side this particular
historical focus on Roy Lichtenstein’s work for Bert Stern’s On 1st,
Alden Projects™ also presents prints, mailers, and ephemera by the artist also
from 1960s along with other seminal “practical objects” by first generation Pop
artists, including Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol.
Here is what then-young reporter Bill Cunningham wrote about the opening
impressions of Bert Stern’s On 1st published by the Chicago Tribune on December 02, 1968:
“Some famous artists in New York City are turning out art that’s not for
art’s sake alone. And specializing in just this breed of art is ‘On 1st,’
a boutique opened by the photographer, Bert Stern at 1159 1st Ave.
at 63rd Street. Because of a belief that art and everyday life are
coming together, creating a demand for art as a part of one’s physical
environment, Stern has provided a practical outlet for the artists. But vying
for attention with the "practical art" in the shop is the dramatic decor
that envelops those who venture thru the giant letters and inside. The facade
of one-story-high letters, which weigh two tons and spell "On," is
the work of artist Sven Lukin.
THE HOLE IN the "O" serves as what would usually be a display
window; here television screens fill the space, occasionally playing the inside
action for those too timid to go thru the "n," and the door of black
glass. This opens into a black-painted entrance hall-which in turn leads into
the capsule-like gallery. The shop is entirely covered in royal blue carpeting,
which runs along the floor, up the walls, and over the ceiling. It is not for
the claustrophobic.”
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| Photo of Bert Stern's Pop Shop, On 1st in 1968; typographical facade by Sven Lukin |
© Todd Alden 2015
Dallas Art Fair
FIG (Fashion Industry Gallery)
1807 Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX 75201
Alden Projects™ Booth D11
Opening Preview Gala:
Thursday, April 9: 7 pm - 10 pm
Purchase gala tickets here.
Fair Hours:
Friday, April 10, 11am – 7pm
Saturday, April 11, 11am – 7pm
Sunday, April 12, 12pm – 6pm
Purchase general admission tickets here.