Gallery East is an art and performance network based in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 notable for being one of the first venues to host hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 rock shows for an all ages audience. Founded in 1979 by Duane Lucia and Al Ford, it closed its location at 24 East St. in 1983, but re-emerged in 2006 as a driving force that continues to support up and coming artists and performers.

Early History

Gallery East opened in December 1979 and quickly gained prominence as the home for Boston’s avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 and alternative culture

Alternative culture

Alternative culture is a type of culture that exists outside or on the fringes of mainstream or popular culture, usually under the domain of one or more subcultures...

. Founded by artist Al Ford and DIY pioneer Duane Lucia, Gallery East occupied a 5000-square-foot storefront at 24 East Street in Boston's Leather District near South Station

South Station

South Station, New England's second-largest transportation center , located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street in Dewey Square, Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest train station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston, a prominent train station in the northeastern...

.
Early shows featured up and coming visual artists

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

 such as David Barbero, Al Ford, Armand Saiia, Susan Shup and Pablo Hurtado, with some intermittent music performances by Gary Koepke

Gary Koepke

Gary Koepke is a creative director and co-founder of the Boston-based creative and communications agency Modernista!-Early career:Koepke began his career working with a number of major publications and brands...

, Samm Bennett

Samm Bennett

Samm Bennett , is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.Samm Bennett is a singer and songwriter, a drummer and percussionist, and a player of string instruments such as the stick dulcimer and the diddley bow...

, Paul Shapiro, and others. In the fall of 1980 the gallery expanded its performance programming to include poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

, performance art

Performance art

In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

, and photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

. New young artists included Walter Tamasino, Mark Morrisroe

Mark Morrisroe

Mark Morrisroe was a performance artist and photographer. He is known for his performances and photographs, which were germane in the development of the punk scene in Boston in the 70's and the art world boom of the mid to late 80's in NYC...

, Steve Stain, Kevin Porter, Pia MacKenzie, Susan Hellewell and Robert Dombrowski.

By late 1980 it was the broad variety of live music that set the gallery apart from other art and performance venues in New England. In November, Wild Stares, Dangerous Birds

Thalia Zedek

Thalia Zedek is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Come...

, and The Neats

The Neats

The Neats were a Boston rock band that existed from the late 1970s to early 1990s. They first recorded for the independent Propeller label, which in 1981 released the song, "Six", a swirling, Vox-washed slab of garage rock reminiscent of Question Mark & the Mysterians...

 staged shows at the gallery called Propeller Parties, an endeavor which later led to the founding of Propeller Records

Propeller Records (Boston)

Propeller Records was an independent record label formed in Boston, MA, in 1981. The label, a collective, was formed by a number of Boston bands, including The Wild Stares, People in Stores, The Neats, CCCPTV and V;. Later members include Dangerous Birds, Art Yard, 21-645, Chinese Girlfriends,...

. Other bands who played these shows included Mission of Burma

Mission of Burma

Mission of Burma is an American post-punk band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. The band was formed by Roger Miller , Clint Conley , Peter Prescott and Martin Swope...

, Bound and Gagged, V, and The Stains

The Stains (Maine)

The Stains were a well known punk band to come from Portland, Maine in the early 1980s and were led by guitarist George Ripley and vocalist Dave Buxton, Beth Blood and Ira Nulton on bass as well as Joe Potter on drums. Lead guitarists in the studio and in live performance included Dave Morton,...

. Art music

Art music

Art music is an umbrella term used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and world sounds were also represented at the gallery with performances by Warren Senders, Raqib Hassan, Tony Vacca, Scott Robinson

Scott Robinson (jazz musician)

Scott Robinson is an American jazz musician. Robinson is best known for his work with various styles of saxophone, but has also performed with the clarinet, flute, and sarrusophone, along with other, more obscure instruments....

, Julian Thayer and others. Gallery East began to draw critical acclaim from local media, including the Boston Globe, who called it a “home for the avant-garde.”

The Season of the One Week Art Show

In the spring of 1981, Gallery East began mounting one week shows, which were much shorter than the traditional gallery exhibits in Boston. Sculptor, painter and musician Robert Rutman started things off in May with the "International Art Show". In June, Dark Week, which was described as a “boho free-for-all,” featured alt-culture performances such as 24 bands lip syncing their own music, including performances by The Dark

Roger Greenawalt

Roger Greenawalt is an American music producer and musician known for discovering singer Ben Kweller. A story on Greenawalt's efforts to get Kweller signed to a major label appeared in the New Yorker on April 7, 1997.-Background:...

, Young Snakes

Young Snakes

The Young Snakes was an American band formed in Boston in the early 1980s. Lead singer and bassist Aimee Mann formed the group after she dropped out of Berklee College of Music; other members were guitarist Doug Vargas and drummer Mike Evans, who replaced Dave Bass, who returned to his hometown,...

, Red

Ottmar Liebert

Ottmar Liebert is a German-born composer and guitarist, born to a Chinese-German father and a Hungarian mother. As a child, he spent most of his time traveling Europe and Asia with his family...

, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is a musical group founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980.The music of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is almost entirely instrumental, and incorporates many different musical elements; critic Rick Anderson writes, "Very few bands have ever managed to straddle the worlds of...

, and Peter Dayton, as well as "The Wonderful World of Jesus" and The Dark's "89 Systems". In July the gallery hosted Polare Levine's work and Pink. Inc. amongst others. August was packed full of performances, including Kick Week, Take It! Magazine Week, and the Boston New York Fellowship Week.

Hardcore

In late August 1981, two local bands, SS Decontrol

SSD (band)

SSD were a straight edge hardcore band from Boston. They released two records as SS Decontrol and then formally changed their name to SSD. As SSD they released two more records, these with a very heavy metal influenced sound...

 and The Freeze

The Freeze

The Freeze are a hardcore punk rock band from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Freeze formed in late 1978. At the time all members were in high school. The Freeze are generally considered to be a Boston hardcore band, but they never truly fit into the typical Boston mold. Like most hardcore groups, the...

, took the stage at Gallery East and introduced Hardcore to the city of Boston. It was billed as aggressive music: loud and fast songs lasting 30 seconds. Hand-drawn xeroxed flyers promoted the show as “xxx ALL AGES xxx.”
Hardcore shows continued to supplement the art at the Gallery through 1982. The Boston Hardcore

Boston hardcore

Boston hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Boston, Massachusetts. (Not to be confused with Boston metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore; itself an...

 crew invited nationally known acts, including Minor Threat

Minor Threat

Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...

, TSOL

TSOL

TSOL is an American punk rock band which formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California. TSOL is short for True Sounds of Liberty although they are rarely referred to by their full name....

, MDC

MDC (band)

MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...

, Meatmen, Government Issue

Government Issue

Government Issue was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. active from 1980 to 1989. The band experienced many changes in membership during its nine-year existence, with singer John Stabb as the only consistent member in an ever-fluctuating lineup that at various times included...

, and Necros

Necros

Necros were an early American hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio, although they are usually identified with the Detroit music scene. They are the first band to record for Touch and Go Records.-History:...

, to appear on the same bill.

The Gallery continued to support other musical and artistic genres as well, including jazz shows, visual art, performance art events by companies such as Mobius Artists Group

Mobius Artists Group

The Mobius Artists Group is an interdisciplinary group of artists, founded in 1977 by Marilyn Arsem in Boston, Massachusetts as Mobius Theater. It is known for incorporating a wide range of visual, performing and media arts into live performance, video, installation and intermedia works...

, more regular independent film screenings, and poetry readings.

Controversy

Gallery East was a vanity gallery

Vanity gallery

A vanity gallery is an art gallery that charges artists fees to exhibit their work and makes most of its money from artists rather than from sales to the public. Some vanity galleries charge a lump sum to arrange an exhibition, while others ask artists to pay regular membership fees and then...

; artist and performers rented wall and floor space, making the curatorial process minimal. It was criticized for this by the Boston art establishment, often being called a ‘glorified night club’. A number of artists in the Leather District even went as far to sign a petition asking the City of Boston licensing board to refrain from granting permits to the gallery and further criticized the board for underwriting the Gallery’s ‘nuisances’. On July 7, 1982 a hearing was held before the Boston Licensing Board to decide the case. Room 801 at New City Hall

Boston City Hall

Boston City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of Boston, Massachusetts. Architecturally, it is an example of the brutalist style. It was designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles...

 was filled with artists, musicians and performers, as well as kids who arrived with their parents. The City ruled in favor of the Gallery, based on its right to freedom of expression, as long as they continued to obtain the proper permits.

Closing

The gallery closed its space at 24 East Street in the winter of 1983. Both Ford and Lucia continued to stage shows throughout the Northeast.

Current

Under Lucia's direction, Gallery East re-emerged in 2006 as a web-based network, which continues to contribute to the local and international art scene with art shows, performances and community events. Art exhibitions included two shows at Studio Soto: the “Sides Show” and “Living Large” paintings by Paola Savarino in conjunction with Fort Point Channel Open Studios, Eric Kluin at the A Space Gallery in Williamsburg NYC, and an exhibit of Evenlyn Berde's paintings at the West End Museum

West End Museum

The West End Museum is a neighborhood museum dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End of Boston.- History :In 1989 the editors of the West Ender Newsletter and members of the West End Historical...

. Other events include "Made in Massachusetts" at the Plymouth Independent Film Festival, Pink Inc. at the 4th Annual West End Children’s Festival, and the Gallery East Reunion Show, which was staged in conjunction with Gallery East's most current large scale project, the production of a 90-minute film, “xxx ALL AGES xxx” documenting the origins of the Boston’s Hardcore music culture on which Lucia, director Drew Stone, and former WERS

WERS

In June 2007, WERS inaugurated a translator station on 96.5 MHz in New Bedford, Massachusetts, relaying WERS's programming to New Bedford and nearby communities...

 host Katy “the kleening lady” Goldman are collaborating.

The Pointing Finger

Gallery East’s logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 since 1979 has been a pointing index finger

Index finger

The index finger, , is the first finger and the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the first and third digits, between the thumb and the middle finger...

. Because of the Gallery’s sometimes association with Dada

Dada

Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...

 and the prevalent use of the pointing index finger by Dada artists, some have conjectured that the Gallery East logo was lifted, thereby identifying it with that particular anti-art movement. However, it was a pure coincidence. The deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

-style pointing index finger was from a shipping label used on freight boxes and was found in a desk when the gallery moved into the 24 East Street location.