J. Morgan Puett

J. Morgan Puett

Art and commerce have always been uneasy bedfellows, except for artists like Puett, who embrace both simultaneously. From 1985 to 1997, Puett ran a workshop in SoHo, designing clothing for the downtown crowd, and hosted everything from exhibitions and concerts to poetry and tarot-card readings. This revisiting features a large installation of effects left over after the business closed–cancelled checks, payroll records, clothing on racks (including a prototype for Suzanne Vega's wedding gown)–all dipped in preservative beeswax. Like a time capsule, Puett's artifacts present SoHo in the moments before it succumbed to boutique mania. It's also, inarguably, the best-smelling show in town.