VINCE ALETTI: ARCHIVES

Library180 Friday November 7th 6pm-8pm

I curated a show for Vince Aletti at Library180 in New York. It’ll feature three large-scale table top collages of not seen before archival and ephemeral materials. Dating back from the 1960s onward. From Vince’s private collection. The space is small so if you’d like to attend the opening please rsvp aaron@aaronstern.us

Library180 — Friday, November 7th — 6pm - 8pm

WSA // 180 Maiden Lane // New York

Starting Nov 9 you can make an appointment to see the show by emailing librarian@library180

Here’s Vince visiting Library180 recently. It’s a beautiful new space to show off their own massive archive.

I’ve been spending some time over at Vince’s apartment the last few months. At 80 years old he’s been collecting pictures in all forms for the better part of the last 50 years.

I brought Mike Brodie over the other day when he was in town. It was a full circle moment that I got to witness.

Vince wrote about Mike’s seminal work and book— A Period of Juvenile Prosperity (2013). I’ve always loved these pictures. I learned something new after hanging with them both. Mike was intentional about making these images. Rather than a kid documenting his environment. On a whim.

Back to Vince. His collages remind me of Robert Rauschenberg. Who has a show up at the Guggenheim now. “Life Can’t Be Stopped”

And a new book with Stanley/Barker. Back in 1949 his wife Susan Weil showed Rauschenberg how to make cyanotypes at her family’s home in Connecticut.

I like hearing about artist couples. They split up in 1953. But then he went on to have relationships with Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly and Merce Cunningham. I thought about a show I saw of his about a year ago at Gladstone’s Upper East Side location.

Bought the catalogue when I saw the exhibition.

When I was looking for these pictures on my phone I scrolled by a catalogue for Man Ray I liked. Gladstone had a copy on display.

From an exhibition in Paris. 1988. I recently saw the Man Ray show at the Met.

I liked the way the curators presented not just images on the wall. Was more immersive. My kind of thing. As I’ve mentioned.

There’s a lot to do. See. Eat. Listen to and watch. I feel like I don’t have enough time to get it all in. The days are long sometimes. But the years are short. So I’m not sailing out but crashing in.

Life today feels like endurance training for our attention. So I’m hoping that I’m able to steal a bit of yours. Here are a few things I borrowed and scanned from Vince.

Library180 is proud to present Archives, a solo exhibition by influential American critic Vince Aletti, curated by Aaron Stern. The show features two new large-scale table-top collages composed entirely of magazine covers and editorial spreads dating from the 1960s onward culled from Aletti’s private archive.

Known for his unparalleled eye and lifelong devotion to the printed page, Aletti has spent decades collecting visual materials from magazines, gallery announcements, newspapers and other ephemeral print sources. Archives continues the visual language first explored in his book The Drawer (SPBH Editions, 2022 Paris Photo PhotoBook of the Year, 2023), but marks a new, more distilled approach: two expansive table works that act as both personal timelines and cultural mirrors.

The works reject hierarchy, placing images from high fashion alongside underground press clippings, studio portraits, film stills, and subcultural icons. This flat, non-linear sequencing allows for new associations to emerge between bodies, gestures, eras, and identities while honoring photography’s ability to circulate, seduce and persist across decades.