11/03/99

MARGINAL ZONE

History

(from the Border Art Workshop Catalog 1984 –1991, pp. 61 – 62)

1980

V.

The fall of 1980 was an unexpected turn of events. Richard Sigmund had a clue. He started 552 Gallery on Fifth exhibiting the works from a core of downtown artists. Hundreds of people attended this first series of exhibits. They introduced mostly unknown work. Within that year, a decisive group of artist run galleries had emerged on Fifth and Sixth avenues. Not exactly the existing formula of museum and university control of how art was repre- sented in the city. The public presence of resident artists, exhibiting in their own galleries, was an unacceptable event in San Diego's elitist culture.

1981

VI

Sushi, in its initial form as a performance and installation space on "F" Street, was the first of these new contextual venues. 552 Gallery followed next providing the greatest influence on the emergence of the next galleries to follow. Within six months 552 saw the openings of Installation Gallery, Pawnshop Gallery, and the Alternative Space Gallery. By the fall of 1981 this was to become known as the Downtown Artist Community despite the reality of groups of artists existing in live/work spaces since the early to mid seventies. Outside the political influence of the museum and universities another art community had evolved from grass roots avocation. l .

<index - back - next>