Luna Luna
Once thought lost, restored 1980s 'avant-garde art carnival' resurfaces in NYC exhibit
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Nocona, Texas, a town of 3,000 people located in the Red River Valley near the Oklahoma border, is probably the last place you’d expect to find the remnants of an avant-garde carnival featuring works by some of the 20th century’s most famous artists.
But for more than three decades, works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arik Brauer, Salvador Dali, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and Kenny Scharf, among others, were stored in 44 shipping containers on a ranch in a town best known for cattle, cotton, and companies that make leather goods — boots and baseball gloves especially.
The works were part of Luna Luna, a “carnival of the avant-garde” conceived in the mid 1980s by Austrian multimedia artist Andre Heller. Thirty-seven years after their debut, and three years after they were rescued by a $100 million investment from the rapper Drake’s entertainment company, they are on display at The Shed in New York City.
Originally, I thought I wouldn’t get to see the exhibit, which was scheduled to end Jan. 5. We had hoped to catch it over the Christmas holiday, but I was still recovering from pneumonia and unable to travel.
But with the exhibit extended until March 16, I took advantage of a brief break and made my first trip to New York in almost six months. It was a quick visit — less than 24 hours — that gave me a chance to spend some quality time with our youngest daughter, Emma and see her fiancée Colby and twin brother Ben for a moment. I also was able to take in Luna Luna with extended family members Ginno, Elie, and Bernadette.
Problems, Then Reclamation
Luna is the international term for small local carnivals, a name derived from Luna Park that opened on Coney Island in 1903. The park, which merged art with amusement rides, was open for just two months in 1987 in Hamburg, Germany.
Despite drawing more than 300,000 visitors, subsequent plans to move the carnival to Europe and the U.S. were unsuccessful. Facing bankruptcy, Heller attempted to sell the park to the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation, but disputes over artists’ rights, among other things, led to a decades-long legal battle.
The art was shipped to Nocona, where it languished in the storage containers.
In 2019, an intern sent an article about the original Luna Luna to entrepreneur Michael Goldberg, who contacted Heller and started seeking investors to purchase the works from the Birch Foundation. Rapper Drake and his media company, DreamCrew, bought the shipping containers sight unseen.
DreamCrew shipped the containers to Los Angeles, and the company has worked to restore as as many of the works as possible. The restoration debuted in Los Angeles in 2023 and moved last fall to The Shed, where its originally scheduled run was extended by two months due to its popularity.
Luna Luna now is less carnival — you can’t ride the rides — and mostly art exhibit, but it has some terrific pieces, including:
A Ferris wheel conceived by Basquiat; the paintings were done by Viennese artists who were working from his sketches and instructions.
Brauer’s carousel featuring eight different characters — including a she-wolf, a mermaid, and a butterfly — that doubled as seats.
Large murals and a carousel designed by Haring.
A Pop Surrealist chair swing ride that was painted by Scharf.
A geodesic dome with a mirrored interior that was one of Dalí’s last designs, and Hockney’s “enchanted tree.”
A glass labyrinth featuring images from Lichtenstein’s Perfect/Imperfect series.
New to the exhibit are performance artists Poncili Creacion, identical twin brothers who use puppets, sound, and movement in the installation “PonciliLand.”
One of the coolest parts of the show is the “Wedding Chapel” that was designed by Heller. Inside, you can “marry” anyone you wish in a public ceremony and receive a Polaroid and a wedding certificate. If things don’t work out, simply tear up the picture and you’ll be “divorced.”
For more information about Luna Luna, go to the exhibit’s website here. And if you’re in NYC between now and next Monday, consider a visit to this visual trip. Hopefully it will tour to other cities as well.
More images
Awesome!
My favorite jam band, Goose, played Luna Luna last night, and I’m sorta sorry I didn’t go. But the photos: This is one time color was the right choice for the Cook’s eye view.