BoHo Bazaar: Party on Purpose

“BoHo Bazaar”, a benefit for New York Artists Equity Association, riffs on high-end art fairs with a healthy dose of 80s downtown DIY nostalgia served up with the fun and accessibility of flea markets, rent parties, and school cake sales. Attendees will be treated to an eclectic mix of sale booths featuring affordable art works, printed matter, collectibles and baked goods. Activity booths will offer printmaking demonstrations and commissioned portraits, temporary tattoos and make-overs. Adding to the downtown art party atmosphere, the event will stage live music performances, and a sale of paintings and drawings specifically made for the event or completed onsite by artists working from professionally costumed models.

In keeping with the event’s Downtown theme, BoHo Bazaar will honor a select group of pioneering culture makers associated with the East Village 80s art scene including actor and playwright Charles Busch, art critic and curator Carlo McCormick, gallerist and art dealer Gracie Mansion, and performance artists John Kelly and Chris Tanner. Both Kelly and Tanner will perform at the event. The NYC based band “GSX unplugged”, comprising musicians Sarah Greenwood and Alec Morton, will join them.

About NYAE:
NYAE was founded in 1947 to promote opportunities for artists and address economic issues affecting American artists. Its founders included Jacob Lawrence, his wife Gwendolyn Knight, Edward Hopper, Louse Nevelson and Paul Cadmus. Yasuo Kuniyoshi was the first president. NYAE opened Equity Gallery (as its public facing space) on the Lower East Side of New York City in October 2015. Equity Gallery serves as a gallery for emerging artists to exhibit their work and as an art world “third space” where artists and their allies may come together to advance visual culture. Its current director, Michael Gormley, came onboard in 2018. Since that time, NYAE has mounted 82 exhibitions featuring a diverse cohort of 1,160 underserved artists of merit. During this same period, NYAE distributed over $50K in artist project regrants and co-produced numerous offsite exhibitions including public art projects for NYC parks and gardens.