The most intriguing aspect of the exhibit was Kenny Scharf’s Cosmic Closet. When I first entered this space, this was a lot to take in the picture captures. There was a collage of toys and other various other objects of all kinds of colors and shapes. What I found to be an interesting effect on me was that this room was beyond messy, but there was pleasure in looking at this mess. It was almost like a game of finding hidden objects. Another interesting aspect of this piece was that there was one space where there was a mirror, and the viewer almost becomes apart of the piece. It’s clear that this piece is abstract but also diverse in nature. This accompanied with the use of neon colors and fluorescent lights successfully capture the feeling of being in a club or disco in the 1980s. In its diversity, there’s also a clash of classes, fashion, music, and even art compared to street art with the inclusion of graffiti. Through his art, Scharf brings together this idea of unity and community and this is extremely relevant to New York not just in the 1980s but today as well. This exhibit really compels the viewer to come in and pause. We’re compelled to take in the surroundings especially because there’s so much to look at, it’s impossible to look at it holistically. There was also this nostalgic aspect to it. Many of the objects were toys and it reminded me of the things I used to play with in my childhood, almost tempting me to play with the stuff, but of course, you can’t touch the art. Through this Scharf suggest that it’s ok to be a kid again. It was really interesting to see such an abstract piece with multiple parts to it have such multiple meanings to it.

One piece of art that definitely left a mark on my experience at Club 57 was Cosmic Closet by Kenny Scharf. This piece of art was the most interesting one in my mind because you are instantly entranced by the bright neon colors, random objects, and surreal environment this piece creates. This piece of art is not simply a painting or something to look at but it brings you into the experience. A room, coated in neon paint and covered with objects ranging from chairs to headless dolls, takes you out from the real world and brings you into this extraterrestrial-like world within this room. All of the absurd objects in this room come together to create a kid-like curiosity within the viewer. When you walk in, you can really feel the happiness that Kenny Scharf had when creating this piece. This piece captures the feelings, lifestyle, and energy of New York even in todays day and age.

This piece represented what life was like in New York city in the 70s and 80s. In my eyes, the neon colors represent not only the excitement of life and energy that New York had but the excitement of being an artist as well. When you walk into that room, you really feel as though you are transported to another world and I believe that Kenny Scharf was trying to do exactly that: capture the moments of his life as an artist in the 70s and keep that energy, feeling, and passion encapsulated in this room for people in the future to feel what it was like to live during this time, to be alive. This piece absolutely belongs in this exhibit because it challenges the definition of art, much like the rest of these pieces. It makes art, something that many people deem serious and perfect, into something full of energy, joy, imperfections, and alive.

This painting named “Untitled” (1982), part of a collection called Tabboo! by Stephen Tashjian at the Club 57 exhibit at MOMA caught my eye as I walked past it. The painting seems roughly done yet full of emotion. The jagged brush strokes influence the eerie and dark tone of the painting; as the mouth seems to be painted in a way that makes it look like the mouth is bleeding, the eyes look bloodshot, and dark rings are formed around the eyes of the person in the painting. The extremely warm color palette used and the disturbing image portrayed makes the painting almost unpleasant to look at. However, what really stands out to me was the name of the collection, Tabboo!, as it captures the essence of the entire exhibit. Everything in the Club 57 exhibit was taboo. The taboo issues and artworks of the 1970s-80s flowed throughout the exhibit, representing topics such as the counterculture, sex, and the LGBT community. Like the Tabboo! painting by Stephen Tashjian, other emotional and outlandish art was shown that portrayed deep social issues but also served to make the viewer uncomfortable and think about the topic/issue at hand, such as the art created during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. These abstract pieces were infused with emotion and it was apparent they most likely had great significance to the artist. The odd choice in colors and peculiar representation of people throughout the exhibit are a representation of how what was considered “taboo” was now becoming normalized in several communities, as many artists pushed past the limit of what was viewed as normal in society and began expressing themselves based off their passions revolving around certain issues at hand. These painting are a reflection of how the 1970s-80s were a time of creative expression, an expression that refused to conform to any social standard and embodied the taboo nature of not only the art but the mindsets of those involved in the countercultures of the 1970s-80s.

Club 57 was an incredibly unique experience and one of the most engaging exhibits I’ve seen at the MOMA. Immediately stepping into the exhibit, I was struck by the massive array of bright colors and a vibrancy that really embodied the image of the East Village and formed an excellent background to the considerable variety of different pieces. The subject matter of the artwork and the juxtaposition of said artwork with a club environment is significant and intentional. Understanding the culture of the club especially in the context of the LGBT community, counter-culture, and the aids crisis in the 1980’s is crucial to understanding the nuances and messaging of the works that have been posted throughout this exhibit. Many pieces of art came attached with political messages as notions of self-awareness, the LGBT community, and other social issues became deeply politicized.

One piece in particular that really stood out to me is this painting, posted above, of a figure whose face has been painted white and his body has been masked in a brown paint, highlighting his body from the neck-above. The drab mosaic cuts through the vibrancy of the club environment and symbolizes the darkness of the AIDS crisis in a place that is supposed to be marked with happiness and the forgetting of life’s trials. The historical message it imparts is something that I thought about as soon as I saw the artwork. The face of the individual in the painting has also been reduced to a simple, blank, white, and gaunt face, resembling a skull and having an air of “death” around it. This helps establish part of the mood in that time that likely inspired this work. This was a very dark drawing whose meaning was exemplified due to the burst of colors in some of the other works. I think it really called attention to this particular theme of the gallery and was a work of deep intrigue to me.

Initially when I saw Richard Hambleton’s shadowy painting, I wasn’t wearing my glasses and what I would later find that the painting was not of someone jumping for joy, but was something much darker. Even now, I can see it being an uplifting piece, but the colors are so muted and dark that I know it just can’t be. The figure’s hands hold this orb over its body, but it doesn’t look like he’s straining to hold it. Instead, its knees are bent outwards and the heels of its feet meet. Or maybe it IS an uplifting piece because you see, through the dark shading, lighter areas that imitate an actual light coming through on the painting. The painting almost reminds me of Buddha- the stereotypical image of Buddha has Buddha with his legs folded and his hands over his lap. The shadow painting looks like a stretched out version of the image of Buddha standing.

Many of the paintings show the effect that AIDS epidemic had on victims and families. And that goes to why I feel like this piece might not be dark- the orb that the figure is holding is maybe the weight of the disease. But still, the figure is not straining to hold the weight; it is not crushing him. Instead, the weight doesn’t even make full contact with the hands.The lightness has to symbolize a form of hope, and this figure is more of a warrior than anything else. So maybe it is a leap for joy- a message that AIDS is not the end of life.

  In the Club 57 exhibit, this particular piece caught my eye. It is Sur Rodney’s “Learn to Draw Your Own Conclusions,” from 1980. In hindsight, I am a bit surprised that it was this particular piece that I was most drawn to because in comparison to most of the other features of this exhibit, it is dull. There are no vibrant colors jumping out at the viewer or big, bolded letters to inform you of a club event. It seems like a piece that would easily be overlooked or missed along the way. For this reason, I’m particularly glad that I happened to choose it.

Even though we cannot really make out anything that is written on the picket signs, we still can gather an idea of what is going on. This definitely is reflective of what is going on in our world today, and I think this is part of the reason why I had such a strong reaction to this piece. Throughout this exhibit, a strong emphasis was placed on challenging social norms and ridding the people of all the restrictions of what is considered proper. One of the most important ways of doing that is by protesting through a variety of different methods, as we continue to see today. By dressing in a certain way, playing a certain type of music, or forming a protest group such as the one that is depicted here, the public unrest is made clear. The social norms will only shift as a result of the sort of movements and pushes that are exemplified throughout the Club 57 showing. The title encourages allowing our own thought processes to stray from what we are constantly being taught, form our own personas and decide who/what we want to be for ourselves. I think this is an extremely important message that will continue to be true for generations to come. This piece definitely resonated with me for reasons such as these.

There were many interesting pieces in Club 57 but the one that really intrigued me was an untitled painting by Richard Hambleton in the lower gallery. It features a indistinct, shadowy shape that is bending at the knees. The painting utilizes black and white acrylic on canvas. When I first saw this painting, it was the shadowy figure that stuck out to me. It gave an ominous feeling, similar to the one you get when you’re watching a scary movie and you know the serial killer is behind the door. As I looked closer, however, I saw how the artist spread the painting in a circular fashion, forming almost concentric circles. At the top of his work was where the center of the circles and there almost seems to be a sphere. The shadowy person looks like he is holding up the sphere. This made me think of Atlas holding up the sky. The only problem was that the shadowy figure’s stance was not that of someone holding up something heavy.

Later on, as I was leaving the exhibit, I saw the gallery description at the entrance. It talked about the origin of Club 57 and what the theme of the pieces were. When I read that the club closed in 1983, I remembered that this piece was also made in 1983. The club was closed during the AIDS era, and many of the artists featured in the gallery would have felt the impact of this. As I viewed the art piece from this new perspective, I thought that there was a possibility that the shadowy person wasn’t shadowy because he was an antagonist. I felt that there was a possibility that he represented the people who were affected by AIDS, and the way he was drawn was because he was dancing. From my viewpoint, this painting shows the strength of the multiple artists and club goers in Club 57.

Frank Holiday’s piece “The Lingerie Family” intrigued me the most out of any painting in the exhibit. Its disorienting swirl of color and form coupled with unsettling imagery to create an unsettling mood. It seems to be very ominous, with the depictions of a bleeding finger, a mysterious hand winding up the central figure like a toy, and the uncanny appearances of the subjects. The people are disproportional, and some of the figures in the background resemble skeletons and appear to be closer to creatures than humans. But most disconcerting of all is the digital eye blinking and twitching, appearing to take in the room around it and its visitors. It seems to me that the family is the three characters in the foreground; the man with the beard is the father, the woman in lingerie is the mother, and the person in the onesie is the child. These outlandish costumes, gaudy figures, and bright colors reflect the brazen, shameless atmosphere of Club 57, which served as an accommodating space for people who wanted to push the limits of what society considered proper dress and behavior. This painting also shows how film and fine art converged during the time period it was created, the 1970s-1980s. The static canvas painting is combined with a video recording and contrasts the abstract, exaggerated forms with an image of a real eye. Along the walls of the exhibit were several other paintings, and in the very center a film was being played on a screen. Holiday’s piece was placed both near the paintings and the film, so their convergence is made even more obvious. I also found the distinction between the foreground and the background to be interesting; the artist added blue to the figures in the back so they would fade behind the three central characters. To make them stand out, he used bright colors that were not distributed to the background characters.

The Club 57 exhibit at MoMA is a tribute to a low-budget cultural hub. Club 57’s bright colors, the vivid characters and the emotional vulnerability present in the space create an essence of exploration and of acceptance for the “other.” There is also a clear rejection of cultural norms and rigidity. I was especially moved by the intense acceptance evident in Listen to This by Tom Rubnitz. During the early parts of the AIDS crisis, the United States’ government organizations were not spreading awareness of the disease and safe sex practices effectively, especially in regards to minority and LGBTQ communities. A Smithsonian. Com article about an AIDS exhibit in 2013, states that much of the government’s $600 million AIDS-prevention budget was used instead to combat the disease among college students, heterosexual women and others who faced a relatively low risk of contracting the disease. In addition to this, much of the AIDs awareness pamphlets and posters used fear mongering as a means of gaining attention. Fear mongering did not give any solutions or tips like condoms and clean needle usage. Instead in many cases simply having sex was reprimanded. Many people diagnosed with the disease, likely felt condemned for their behavior by this propaganda. Tom Rubnitz’s piece combats this by highlighting the naturalness of sex and human desire. In the video, he describes his lust for his great partner in great detail. The camera zooms in on his partner’s bare chest and neck, which helps us to understand the narrator’s unique experience of attraction. What is particularly interesting about this piece is that while we do not know if the sex is a casual fling or part of a more committed relationship, there is a powerful reverence for his partner’s body evident in the narrator’s focus on his partner’s pleasure and his detailed description of his partner’s penis. His work does not condemn sex but rather highlights the beauty of such an intimate interaction. As a result, Rubnitz combats conservative group’s fear mongering and the perpetuation of negative sex ideas and protects the ability for people to explore their sexualities in healthy ways. This represents ideas of intense acceptance and experimentation which were characteristic of Club 57.