Patti Astor’s True Story of the Fun Gallery and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Patti Astor, aka “Queen of the Downtown Scene,” has announced the release of her production, “Patti Astor’s True Story,” featuring excerpts from her self-published memoir, “Fun Gallery … The True Story.”

What do you most want to share with your new project True Story?

I think there has been a lot of dramatisation of the times. I want to tell the true story of what happened. It’s time for the truth to be told, I owe it to my artists.

How do you see the spirit of the Fun Gallery in 2022 in Hermosa beach?

There’s still people that are willing to go there own way…kind of back to the day of Super 8. Cheap tech is available. To some it still means more to be creative than to be famous or to make money.

Patti Astor at Keith Haring’s Fun Gallery Show 1983. CREDIT: Eric Kroll

Do you remember your clients/buyers?

Yes. Those were the collectors that really believed in Basquiat and others.

Why did buyers come to you?

Because Fun Gallery was a complete accident. It was a party that never stopped.

Jean-Michel Basquiat with Dondi — Dondi’s Opening, Note Jean-Michel Basquiat through doorway in white hat. CREDIT: Martha Cooper

Why do you think the Fun Gallery is still a known institution when thinking about Basquiat and Haring?

Because it’s where it all started.

What do you think of the incredibly high price levels of Basquiat?

I do see it as a triumph of Jean-Michel and myself.

Jean-Michel Basquiat 1978 in his band Gray. Copyright Pink Poodle Productions. CREDIT: Nick Taylor

Do you remember the Basquiat’s which you have sold?

Yes. I also remember the one in the Tiffany campaign with Jay-Z and Beyoncé – the Fun Gallery sold that painting – and I do not approve the way they’re posturing in front of that painting and I do not think Jean-Michel would approve.

Are you able to recognize an original from a fake Basquiat?

Yes I can. I was there. I saw Jean-Michel’s first painting. There is a rhythm to the painting that is pretty hard to fake.