BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Drupal//recurring_events_ical//2.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:3b964484-d5bf-4735-876d-2bf50a6fbc4d@events.stage.louisville.edu DTSTAMP:20260430T034413Z DTSTART:20260320T210000Z DTEND:20260320T230000Z SUMMARY:Reception: MISSING: When East Village Artists Came to Main Street CONTACT:Jessica Oberdick\, 5028524437\, email:jessica.oberdick@louisville.e du DESCRIPTION:The Hite Institute of Art + Design invites you to join us for t he opening of MISSING: When East Village Artists Came to Main Street, an exhibition that returns to December 1985 when five New York artists travel ed to Louisville to stage an unlikely show in a vacant building at 600 Eas t Main Street. Mounted as a fundraiser for Kentucky’s Child Victims’ T rust Fund, the 1985 Missing Children Show featured new work by David Wojna rowicz, Judy Glantzman, Rich Colicchio, Kiely Jenkins, and Futura 2000. Du bbed “the new irascibles,” this group of artists defined New York’s new East Village avant-garde scene with a mix of graffiti, painterly expre ssionism, social commentary, and impassioned advocacy. MISSING brings thes e artists back to Louisville’s Main Street for an exhibition of 1980s ar t alongside photographs and ephemera from the historic Missing Children Sh ow. \n\nOn view March 20 – May 2, 2026, at the Cressman Center for Visu al Arts. The opening will take place Friday, March 20, from 5-7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Join us.\n\nAdditional Details: \n\ nA central feature of MISSING is a reproduction of a mural by David Wojnar owicz, which loomed large in the makeshift exhibition space in 1985. It de picts an exploding house, animal carcasses, a globe, and a gagging cow—i mages that would become icons in the artist’s visual vocabulary. In 2022 , the mural was discovered preserved behind drywall. Today, it is the only known surviving mural by Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992 “due to government neglect,” in the artist’s words. The mural should be a poin t of pride for our city. But in August of 2025 the building's current owne r covered the mural again with drywall painted black evoking the sadly fam iliar violence of censorship and erasure that continues to haunt Wojnarowi cz’s work long after his death. \n\nAt the Cressman Center, a large-scal e photo reproduction will stand in for the now-absent mural. The reproduct ion is accompanied by additional work by Wojanarowicz, capturing his evolv ing stylistics in this transitional decade. Judy Glantzman’s uncanny, te nder portraits and Rich Colicchio’s disembodied heads demonstrate the pl ayful, often pointedly political return to figuration at this moment. Futu ra 2000’s abstract graffiti locates this work within the downtown street aesthetic of the Lower East Side, while Kiely Jenkins’ odd sculptural f orms affirm this street vernacular and rephrase it for the gallery wall. A ltogether, these exuberate East Village peers compose an important and und er-appreciated moment of 1980s artmaking, just before the wider acknowledg ment of the AIDS Crisis and the artistic turn to explicit activism. \n\nMI SSING: When East Village Artists Came to Main Street restores a nearly for gotten moment in the history of American art while celebrating Louisville ’s unlikely role in this downtown scene. Importantly, the show aims to b ring attention to the historic mural hidden away in our city. \n\nMISSING: When East Village Artists Came to Main Street is made possible with gener ous support from the John Burton Harter Foundation and The David Wojnarowi cz Foundation. Co-Curated by Hite faculty Jennifer Sichel and Chris Reitz. \n\n \n\n  GEO:38.2556;-85.7512 LOCATION:Cressman Center for Visual Art URL:https://events.stage.louisville.edu/events/reception-missing-when-east- village-artists-came-main-street/2026-03-20 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR