MOHISTORY

   This piece goes back to 1982 and is now in it's fourth incarnation. The first application of MO David was as an art critic. I wrote about my scene (excluding myself) and published in a NY magazine called COVER an article called SF FASHIONISM.  I talked about Labat and Finley and and a few others and in a half mocking style got them some prime NY press. I kept it a secret for a while, but after it got out I owned it. A couple of HIGH PERFORMANCE articles followed, SF POST- HEP  and PERFORMANCISM. I burnt out on the approach. I wasn't getting any press. That ended my art critic career.
   The next application of MO DAVID was as a gallery on South Van Ness St. in SF.  Instead of writing , I would now promote and try to sell. Stelarc, George Westcott, Mark Pauline, Tony Labat, The Kipper Kids, Karen Finley- I showed them all. It was cheap (I lived in the back) and David Ireland owned the building. But there was something about the SF of the time that looked down on an artist run gallery. It was all about the alternative space. After about a year in the underground I decided to move the gallery to NY's Lower East Side. Their underground was jumping.
   This was MO DAVID Inc.- #3, an attempt at running a gallery as a business. It will seem quaint to anyone running a gallery in NYC today, but rent was $600 per month for a storefront on E.9th and Ave. A in 1984. But for me that was a helluva lot of money. With the help of a backer , and when they bailed, my parents, I made a go of it for 2 years. When i got jammed up, and couldn't make the rent, I worked carpentry and hired Rene Ricardo and Bob Nickas to sit behind the desk. I showed Les Levine, Stelarc, Robin Winters, R. Kern, David Ireland, Brian Routh, Karen Finley, John Whitehead, Alex Grey, Katherine Sherwood, Tony Labat, Tony Oursler, Kirk LeClair, Kristan Kohl, David West, Judith Linheres, and I'm sure some I'm forgetting. In the end I couldn't keep it afloat. But what a fucking lineup.
  MO David North is the latest incarnation of this ongoing attempt at making a living from selling art....mine or other's. It's totally absurdist in every way, but I don't seem to be able to stop myself. Once I started taping and trimming out the porch, I went back to that garage in DI's building circa 1982. Why shouldn't I do this again? I love showing other artists. And this time Shewho is involved. She will be the director. Way easier than dealing with me. I've already got a wish list of artists- local, foreign, young, old and in between. And once you start letting people know you are willing to show them, they come out of the woodwork. There will be no shortage of availabists. Shit. I wish I had somebody like MO David out there.