The Record of A Time: The East Village Eye

September 19 - October 3, 2014

The East Village Eye was a monthly publication documenting the various scenes (Punk, disco, new wave and hip hop) of the neighborhood from 1979 to 1987. Leonard Abrams, the magazine’s publisher covered art, music and street culture of the 80s and discussed political and social movements that shaped the years in which “The Eye” was alive.

When hip hop started to emerge in New York, the Eye was there with early stories on historical figures like Afrikaa Bambaataa, Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000, Run DMC, the Rock Steady Crew and many others. How early? The East Village Eye was the first publication ever to print the words “hip hop.”

Seminal avant garde writers including Richard Hell, whose “Slum Journal” explained how he “invented punk;” Cookie Mueller, who dished out bold and often hilarious health advice; Glenn O’Brien, the leading avant-pop writer and media figure who chose the Eye to expound on the New York Yankees; and the aforementioned David Wojnarowicz, who wrote about his harrowing past and present as a street hustler and later as an artist living with HIV.

Groundbreaking small clubs and performance spaces like 8BC, ABC No Rio and Darinka, which developed such artists as Karen Finlay and Ethyl Eichelberger, advertised and were written about in the Eye and often nowhere else. Many such artists actually moved to New York because of what they read in the Eye, which in this pre-Internet age was one of the few sources of news on independent culture during one of the most important decades for the arts in New York.

The Eye featured artists such as Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, Barbara Kruger, Colab and Kiki Smith; musicians like Run DMC, Rock Steady Crew, Beasties Boys and Iggy Pop; and fashion designers and influencers Animal X, Patricia Field, Betsy Johnson and Manic Panic. Many such artists made work specifically for publication in the Eye.

Checklist
  1. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, September/October 1980
    Out of stock
  2. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, October 1982
    Out of stock
  3. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, August 1982
    Out of stock
  4. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, February 1984
    Out of stock
  5. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: L. Abrams, 1985
    Out of stock
  6. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, November 1984
    Out of stock
  7. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, Summer 1980
    Out of stock
  8. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, November 1982
    Out of stock
  9. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, April 1983
    Out of stock
  10. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, March 1983
    Out of stock
  11. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, May 1983
    Out of stock
  12. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, May 1984
    Out of stock
  13. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, October 1984
    Out of stock
  14. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, January 1987
    Out of stock
  15. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: L. Abrams, 1986
    Out of stock
  16. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: L. Abrams, 1986
    Out of stock
  17. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: L. Abrams, 1985
    Out of stock
  18. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, June 1979
    Out of stock
  19. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, September 1983
    Out of stock
  20. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, June 1985
    Out of stock
  21. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, October 1986
    Out of stock
  22. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, April 1982
    Out of stock
  23. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, December 1980
    Out of stock
  24. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, October 1983
    Out of stock
  25. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, August 1983
    Out of stock
  26. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, September 1979
    Out of stock
  27. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, September 1982
    Out of stock
  28. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: L. Abrams, 1979
    Out of stock
  29. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, Summer 1979
    Out of stock
  30. Leonard Abrams
    East Village Eye
    New York, NY: Leonard Abrams, August 1986
    Out of stock
/