The Secret Public - full tour of the show

For those of you not fortunate enough to make it to the recent (and too short) Secret Public show at the Boo Hooray Gallery at Steven Kasher Gallery, here is the full on tour in 2 convenient videos:

So Out It's In - Linder Sterling and Jon Savage: The Secret Public - Go See It!

I got to see the Secret Public show by Linder Sterling & Jon Savage today. When I wrote about it a couple of days ago, I lamented the fact that I missed the opening, and now I really wished I had been there. If you're a fan of any of the following, the show is a must see: cut & paste art, xerox art, ephemera, punk rock, you get the picture.

The show focuses on the Secret Public zine published by Sterling & Savage (and "released" by New Hormones Records) in January of 1978, but also includes a good bit of another Savage publication, London's Outrage!, as well as early gig posters for Joy Division, and Buzzcocks/Magazine. There are also several amazingly austere black & white photos of London shot by Savage in the 70's. They are stark and cold, but beautiful. Comparing the London of the 70's to today, a long time New Yorker is struck by the similarities in the changes in the two cities. I had posted about these photos last summer, and they can be seen on Savage's blog in a nice little slideshow.

Savage, who put the show together with Johan Kugelberg, was also careful to give credit where credit is due, and named several other co-conspirators who contributed art, or who otherwise made their shenanigans possible, like New Hormones' boss Richard Boon.

Again, go see this show if at all possible. Open for a much too short 2 weeks, it's only on for a few more days - thru May 23rd. Visit the Boo-Hooray Gallery website for more information, and if you make it, be sure to pick up the beautiful (and very affordable) limited edition catalog they've published for the show.



Added Bonus - meet Linder Sterling:



Buzzcocks "Promises," circa 1978:

Linder Sterling and Jon Savage: The Secret Public / Punk Montages, Photography and Collages 1976-1981

In what just might be the punk related ephemera show of the year (in NYC at least) The Boo Hooray Gallery at Steven Kasher Gallery is currently presenting Linder Sterling and Jon Savage: The Secret Public / Punk Montages, Photography and Collages 1976-1981 through May 23.

Any student of UK punk & post punk worth their salt will certainly know Jon Savage's name as the author of the definitive history of UK punk, England's Dreaming. And Linder Sterling as the graphic designer for the Buzzcocks (and their New Hormones label) in the 70's, as well as an amazing artist in her own right. A definitive collection of her work is available in a book called Linder: Works 1976-2006. Her best known work might be the iconic design for the Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict" single.

The show is based on a one-off art fanzine published by Savage & Linder in January 1978 called The Secret Public. The zine was the second "release" by the Buzzcocks label, New Hormones, following their Spiral Scratch EP. Independent labels did things like that in those days.
- Read more about the show here.
- For a virtual walk thru of the show, watch the video below.
- For a closer look at the items in the show, view the virtual catalog here.
- For a Savage-written history of the zine, go to NewHormones.info, which also features plenty of other information about New Hormones Records for the train spotters out there.



Lastly, if anyone from the gallery happens to read this, I must say that whomever did the PR for this event (especially the opening) did a lousy job. I'm usually plugged in to these sorts of things and knew nothing about it until today when I heard about it from a friend. He told me that quite a few other folks also didn't hear about, or if they did, it wasn't until literally a couple of hours prior to the opening party on May 10. I'm really disappointed that I missed it. Boo Hooray Gallery indeed.

The Boo Hooray Gallery is located at The Steven Kasher Gallery at 521 West 23rd Street. Call 212-966-3978 for gallery hours. The show runs through May 23.