MY TWO CENTS OF HISTORY

Twenty years ago today I was installing my one and only museum show at The New Musuem in NYC under the name Kristan Kohl. I remember the exact date because it was the same day the shuttle blew up. I had just gone out for baby blue paint to paint the walls and was heading back to the museum on Broadway to install the work, when it came over the taxi cab's radio. It sort of put things in perspective. An art show was so minor considering. Recently a few friends have called to either ask why I wasn't respresented in a Downtown art retrospective survey or to read snippets from the catalog misrepresenting my role on the scene. Let me set the record straight.
I moved to NYC from SF in December of 1983. I opened Christmo Gallery on E9th St. and Ave A in January of 1984. My first show was documentary photos of the artist Stelarc's various "body suspensions" around the world. A year later I would help string him up with 18 shark hooks through his back, and suspend him three stories over E11th St. This was the type of gallery I had. At the same time i started painting under the name Kristan Kohl and exhibited her (my) work at Christmo. 1984 was a good year for me. A recent survey curated by a friend 1974-1984 failed to make note of this. It's a bit ticklish to try to set things straight without sounding bitter or whiny. But I feel I must, at least in this modest venue, make my voice heard. My friend the historian gets things wrong too often. i have a much better memory.
I don't really mind the omission until somebody calls, forcing me to face it. Then there's the other critics and historians that draw attention to other 21st century gallerists who are now creating fake work, by fake personas and exhibiting it to great acclaim. When critics talk of it like they've just discovered sliced bread I bristle once again. HEY! Didn't I do that 20 years ago? That's all I wanted to say.