Collection of nine posters of performances by Glenn Branca, 1975-1979

New York and Boston: N.p., 1979. Collection of nine posters of performances by Glenn Branca, 1975-1979. Essentially documenting the rise and seminal period of New York's No Wave scene, a graphically bold set of small to large-size posters advertising performances by Branca and his bands The Static, Theoretical Girls, and Daily Life, as well as theater pieces by Branca and Branca and John Rehberger, bands such as Y Pants, The Gynecologists, and Arsenal, as well as musicians, filmmakers, and performance artists including Laurie Anderson, John Lurie, Ann Messner, and Rhys Chatham. Locations for the dates include The Bastard Theatre, The Kitchen, Franklin Furnace, 3 Mercer Store, Tier 3, and Max's Kansas City. One of the posters date from 1975, five from 1978, and three from 1979.

The earliest poster in the collection, featuring a Dadaist collage of surgeons over an oversize incongruous extended hand, with a concerned 1950s woman over an open book in the foreground, and a large menacing face hovering in the background, announces one of Branca's earliest pieces, "Anthropophagoi," a musical theatre piece written by Branca and Rehberger for Boston's The Bastard Theatre, which ran from May through June, 1975.

The next five posters, all dating from 1978, include: The largest poster in collection, an announcement of early No Wave performances by Branca's short lived group Daily Life, as well as The Gynecologists, Branca's Theoretical Girls, and Arsenal at the Kitchen on April 9. A poster for "Short Pieces" of "Electric Music, Performance, [and] Film" at 33 Grand Street on June 15, features 23 performers, including Anderson, Branca, Lurie, and Rehberger, among others. A poster for Branca's theater piece "Cognitive Dissonance," here noted as "Part One," with a performance by The Static, at Franklin Furnace on October 24. The final two posters from 1978 are both for performances by The Static at 3 Mercer Store on December 15. One, a bold graphic of The Static, announces two performances by the band at 10 and 12:30, and the second announces a "Concert of Music and Film" 10 to 2, featuring music by The Static, and film pieces by Gail Vachon, Rehberger, Chatham, Messner, Jon Rubin and Brian Piersol.

The final three posters, all dating from 1979, are: The Static at Max's on February 4. A graphically bold, nearly abstract poster for performances by Branca, Y Pants, and Rehberger at Tier 3 (TR3) nightclub on December 5. And lastly, a hand-tinted poster for The Static, with the band name printed in reverse, at Tier 3 on December 20.

Avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier, Branca first rose to prominence as a driving force in the New York No Wave music scene, helping to lead to the formation of groups such as Y Pants and Sonic Youth. As well as No Wave, Branca was a formative influence in totalism and noise rock of the 1980s. In later years, Branca's experiments with composition lead to him becoming one of the most famous modern composers whose technique is not based in the European tradition. Branca, along with Chatham, is often categorized as a member of the totalist school of post-mnimalism.

Posters, all Xerographically reproduced, one hand-tinted. 1) 20 x 14 inches, 2) 11 x14 inches, 1) 13.5 x 8.5 inches, 1) 8.5 x 14 inches, and 4) 8.5 x 11. Near Fine overall, some with light toning and edgewear. Hand-tinted poster with tinting evenly toned.