THE FUN GALLERY

FUN was Astor’s attempt to stake a claim in the evolving downtown milieu. She befriended artists, musicians, and filmmakers like Poe, and spent many a night at the Mudd Club, perhaps most famous for being the club Madonna frequented as a young aspiring singer in New York but to locals and scene-makers a seminal spot.

"And so the whole film-acting scene started and everybody from CBGBs and the bands started making movies," Astor said. "We were running around ... it was ridiculous. And they were all on Super 8 … And then what we did is we had a movie theater called the New Cinema which was on St. Marks Place. So we showed those movies there, and then Danceteria, Peppermint Lounge, and all those clubs would have videos screened."

And through her omnipresence, she made a fan.

"Fab 5 [Freddy] came up to me at Duncan Smith's party. He had dragged Futura and a couple other people down there and ... what you need to understand about this party, which was at a downtown loft, it was white walls, white wine, white people. And here's this dude in this porkpie and the Ray Bans—tall good-looking black guy…. He has a paper cake plate and goes 'Can I have your autograph?’ and I said, 'Of course, you are my new best friend!'”

Fab ended up introducing a host of fellow graffiti artists to Astor before 1981 when FUN was founded. Stelling had a space. She had her friends who were artists. Together, they had a gallery.

FUN became known for graffiti art. The uptown boys like Fab and Futura, as well as admirers like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat all had shows there. B-boys from the Bronx became fixtures in the scene.

-capitalnewyork