Lost and Found: The Grey Gallery's Collection of the art of Downtown New York

Marvin Taylor, the director of NYU’s Downtown Collection, has collected works from the 70s and 80s. It was a time period when artists were experimenting, creating and dying in the lofts of the Lower East Side.

This is the nation’s leading Downtown New York Collection and it is “not for the weak of stomach,” said Taylor. “There is not a flinching eye in any of this work.”

More than 300 pieces from the 50,000 in the collection are on display at NYU’s Grey Gallery. Heroin, AIDS and homosexuality are themes in photos and documents in this exhibition, “Downtown Pix: Mining the Fales Archives 1961-1991.”

In a time period when artists were living without money and often with disease, they received no respect from the general population. But, according to Taylor, even without recognition, “they are responsible for changing culture completely.”

These artists had to fight against their upbringings and the ideas instilled in them by their parents. They were able to see beyond what they had been taught and to grasp the reality and gravity of the situations that surrounded them daily.

This departure from past teachings parallels Taylor’s own journey to New York City. He grew up in Cottage Grove, Ind., a town of 109 people, and was raised in a Quaker family. His own love of punk rock and the culture in New York City while he lived in Indiana set him apart from the other kids-- as if being a gay kid in a small Midwestern town wasn’t enough to deal with.

Taylor maintains the belief that the Quaker religion, in which learning and working are valuable traits, has given him a basis off which to launch himself into his passion. In the Quaker religion, every person has a direct link to the divine, so it’s necessary to be articulate and knowledgeable. Taylor himself entered the world of academia in the 5th grade when he helped out in the school library and has continued to work in libraries throughout his life.

“If work can jar you out of your preconceived notions, that’s also what art does,” said Taylor.

When he looks at the photos that David Wojnarowicz took of his dead lover, he says “some days it’s difficult for me to look at these pictures, since it reminds me of a time when everyone was dying.”

Taylor hopes to expand his gallery to accommodate the vast collection that is not as of yet displayed to the public. His gallery incorporates photos and videos that depict the multi- media experimentation that was new to the art world back then.

“The ethos of that time was that anything was possible,” Taylor said. When asked how he determines what he includes in the gallery he responded, “when you look at something and have a moment of sweetness, that’s when you know that it’s important.”