Colin de Land collection, 1984-2004

de Land, Colin, b. 1955 d. 2003
Dealer
New York, N.Y.

Collection size: 7.7 linear feet

Collection Summary: Photographs, which make up a bulk of the collection, consist of aproximately 4,000 4 x 6 inch photographs, photographs on CD-Rom, slides and negatives, and oversized photographs of various subject matter and people, taken by a variety of unknown people who entered de Land's galleries; reel-to-reel motion picture film; video; and miscellany documenting de Land's career as a gallery owner and artists' representative.

Photographs are of Colin de Land, Andy Warhol, Pat Hearn, Dennis Balk, Jackie McAllister, John Waters, Nan Goldin, Andrea Fraser, Mel Bochner, Craig Waldin, Peter Fend, Mary Heilman, and Kembra Pfahler, among others, as well as the Armory Show art fair. Reel-to-reel motion picture film and video includes 35 super-8 films of "Nudie smoking films- duration, one cigarette", and 28 DV mini-cassette videos, most unidentified, but include exhibition openings, birthdays, holidays, and dinners, among other events. Miscellaneous documents include one 2-inch square painting of Demilunes of Heidenhain by Charles Clough, one calendar page autographed by artist Claudia Schiffer, and de Land's baseball cap he was often pictured wearing.

Biographical/Historical Note: Colin de Land (1955-2003) was a New York art dealer whose galleries in the East Village, Soho, and Chelsea promoted cutting-edge artists with interests ranging from institutional critique to video to abstract painting. De Lands American Fine Arts gallery on Wooster Street in particular became a staging ground and refuge for figures in the alternative art world, with de Land acting as ringmaster and provocateur. Mr. de Land took over the Chelsea space of his wife, Pat Hearn, after she died in 2000, where he staged a notorious performance by the band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black led by the performance artist Kembra Pfahler, who became his companion. Mr. de Land studied philosophy and linguistics at New York University and helped found the New York Armory Show.

The papers were donated in 2008 by Dennis Balk, an artist at the American Fine Arts gallery and a close friend of de Land's.

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• Super-8 films and DV mini-cassette videos: ACCESS RESTRICTED; use requires written permission.
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