Film Club in November: Art & Music Month

Enjoy a few beers with us at ABA Gallery while we hang out to some stunning and exciting films. Bring your own snacks, candy, and if you like, a lawn chair – get comfortable. And don’t worry, our popcorn machine will be pop’n off as usual!

TV Party: The TV Show that's a Party 2005 • NR • 1h 29m Directed by Danny Vinik

From 1978 to 1982 Glenn O'Brien hosted an insane punk rock New York City cable TV show called TV Party. Co-hosted by Chris Stein, from Blondie, and directed by filmmaker Amos Poe, the hour long show took television where it had never gone before: to the edge of civility and "sub-realism" as Glenn would put it. Walter Stedin and his band provided a musical accompaniment to the madness at hand, and many artists and musicians, from Jean-Michael Basquiat to David Byrne to Arto Lindsay were regular guests. It was the cocktail party that could be a political party.

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Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat

2017 • NR • 1h 18m Directed by Sara Driver

Exploring the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how New York City, its people, and its tectonically shifting arts culture of the late 1970s and '80s shaped his vision.

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Downtown 81 2002 • NR • 1h 12m Directed by Edo Bertoglio

After being released from the hospital, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat wanders around Manhattan trying to sell art to make money and find a place to stay.

The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into. He finally manages to sell his painting to a wealthy female admirer, but he's paid by check. Low on cash, he spends the evening wandering from club to club, looking for a beautiful girl he had met earlier, so he'll have a place to spend the night. Downtown 81 not only captures one of the most interesting and lively artists of the twentieth century as he is poised for fame, but it is a slice of life from one of the most exciting periods in American culture, with the emergence of new wave music, new painting, hip hop and graffiti.