{"slug":"spiritual-america-gallery","title":"Spiritual America (gallery)","summary":"Spiritual America was a brief but influential artist-run gallery on Manhattan's Lower East Side that operated from 1983-1984, becoming notorious for exhibiting Richard Prince's controversial appropriation of a Brooke Shields photograph and helping establish the area as an important alternative art destination.","content_md":"# Spiritual America (gallery)\r\n\r\n**Spiritual America** was a short‑lived, artist‑run gallery at 5 Rivington Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that operated from October 28, 1983, to March 1984. The operation kept irregular hours and appointment‑only viewings. The gallery was founded by Kim Fine who mounted the first presentation of the re‑photograph By Richard Prince, a photograph of Brooke Shields, By Gary Gross, out of her apartment. The eponymous work is one of the most expensive photographs in the world.\r\n\r\nSpiritual America hosted four exhibitions/events during its run:\r\n\r\n*Oct. 28, 1983 — By Richard Prince, a Photograph of Brooke Shields by Gary Gross (single work; appointment‑only after opening).* Fine’s presentation emphasized difficulty of access and a reverential preference for blacked‑out windows, black‑painted walls, and a single source of light. The initial black‑on‑white invitation cards read “By Richard Prince, a Photograph of Brooke Shields by Gary Gross” and omitted hours and dates. Fine designated the word “TESTIMONY” as the door code for entry; the card survives in ephemera collections with Fine’s name and address as the letterhead.\r\n\r\n*Nov.–Dec. 1983 — Peter Nadin: Still Life (paintings).* Visitors brought fruit; Nadin read poems from his book Still Life.\r\n\r\n*Dec. 31, 1983 — New Year’s Eve event* (temporary red‑paper wall murals by Walter Robinson; removed the next day; no surviving installation photos).\r\n\r\n*Feb. 1–21, 1984 — POP (works by Jeff Koons, Sarah Charlesworth, Louise Lawler, Allan McCollum, Cindy Sherman and Prince).*[^1][^2]\r\n\r\n## Related Topics\r\n\r\n- Richard Prince\r\n- Appropriation art\r\n- Lower East Side art scene\r\n- Artist-run spaces\r\n- 1980s New York art world\r\n- Alternative galleries\r\n- Cindy Sherman\r\n- Jeff Koons\r\n\r\n## Summary\r\n\r\nSpiritual America was a brief but influential artist-run gallery on Manhattan's Lower East Side that operated from 1983-1984, becoming notorious for exhibiting Richard Prince's controversial appropriation of a Brooke Shields photograph and helping to establish the careers of the Pictures Generation artists. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","sources":[{"url":"https://grokipedia.com/page/Spiritual_America_gallery","title":"Spiritual America — Grokipedia","snippet":"Spiritual America was a short-lived, artist-run gallery on Manhattan's Lower East Side, operating from late 1983 to early 1984 at 5 Rivington Street and founded by artist Kim Fine in the space of her apartment.[1][2] The gallery gained notoriety ..."},{"url":"https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5792590","title":"RICHARD PRINCE (B. 1949) , Spiritual America | Christie's","snippet":"Prince then presented the gold-framed work alone in a store-front gallery space on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which he also named 'Spiritual America.' The installation of the invite-only show almost took on the shape of a performance as it deliberately compromised the supposed neutrality of the gallery space and put normally passive art observers in the position of voyeurs."},{"url":"https://grokipedia.com/page/Spiritual_America_(gallery)","title":"Spiritual America — Grokipedia","snippet":"Spiritual America was a short-lived, artist-run gallery on Manhattan's Lower East Side, operating from late 1983 to early 1984 at 5 Rivington Street and founded by artist Kim Fine in the space of her"},{"url":"https://spiritualamerica.grok.talk/spiritual-america-grokipedia.html","title":"Spiritual America (Grokipedia)","snippet":"Spiritual America was a short‑lived, artist‑run gallery at 5 Rivington Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side that operated from October 28, 1983, to March 1984. The operation kept irregular hours and appointment‑only viewings. The gallery was founded by Kim Fine who mounted the first presentation of Richard Prince's rephotograph of a 1970s image of Brooke Shields by Gary Gross, out ..."},{"url":"https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-America-Catalog-1983-1984/dp/1511417692","title":"Spiritual America The Catalog 1983 - 1984: Schulman, Sandra, Robinson, Walter: 9781511417693: Amazon.com: Books","snippet":"The untold story of Spiritual America Gallery, the 1983 - 1984 space at NYC's 5 Rivington Street that first exhibited Richard Prince's Spiritual America photo as well as Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Walter Robinson and more. Foreword by Walter Robinson, with rarely seen artist portraits by Peter Bellamy. Signed copies, and limited original gallery postcards can be ordered at www ..."},{"url":"https://en.everybodywiki.com/Spiritual_America_%28Art_gallery%29","title":"Spiritual America (Art gallery) - EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki","snippet":"Spiritual America is the name of the shell gallery founded by Kim Fine to exhibit the rephotograph By Richard Prince, A Photograph of Brooke Shields, By Gary Gross. Writer and gallerist [ [Sandra Schulman]] \"bearded\" the operation alongside Fine to exhibit Richard Prince 's appropriation of a photograph of the child star Brooke Shields. In 2005 Prince re-opened Spiritual America at 5 Rivington ..."},{"url":"https://whitney.org/collection/works/7818","title":"Richard Prince | Spiritual America | Whitney Museum of American Art","snippet":"He was drawn to the strange sexuality ... itself in a temporary makeshift gallery that he opened, actually called also Spiritual America, on the Lower East Side on Rivington Street...."},{"url":"https://walkerart.org/collections/artworks/spiritual-america","title":"Spiritual America","snippet":"Located in Minneapolis, the Walker presents groundbreaking contemporary art across visual and performing arts, film, and design. Galleries open Tue–Sun; Garden open daily."}],"infobox":{"Type":"Art Gallery","Closed":"March 1984","Founded":"October 1983","Founder":"Kim Fine","Location":"5 Rivington Street, New York City","Notable Artists":"Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman"},"metadata":{"tags":["art-gallery","lower-east-side","appropriation-art","richard-prince","1980s-art","alternative-spaces","new-york-art"],"quality":{"status":"generated","reviewed_by":[],"flagged_issues":[]},"category":"Arts","difficulty":"intermediate","subcategory":"Contemporary Art"},"model_used":"anthropic/claude-sonnet-4","revision_number":2,"view_count":49,"related_topics":[],"sections":["Spiritual America (gallery)","Related Topics","Summary"]}